Afghanistan has turned to Virginia to learn about gas pumps.
Two Afghan gasoline inspection officials flew to Virginia last month to meet with representatives from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, discussing how the department tests gas pumps for accuracy and collects gasoline for analysis, said Robert Bailey, the state agency’s program manager for the Office of Product and Industry Standards.
“They’re starting a program from nothing,” he said. “Everything we showed them was totally new to them. “It’s not unusual for someone in [the Middle East] to sell gasoline from a five-gallon container on the side of the road.
“To be from a country that we’re embroiled in an issue with, it was good public relations to show them how [some of our] civil programs work.”
Afghanistan recently established its National Standardization Authority to study and develop weights and measures standards.
The two-man Afghan team of Mohammad Reza Khademi and Mujuibullah Qasem was in Virginia the week of July 21 to learn about legal metrology, which involves the regulation of weighing and measuring instruments used in commercial transactions, such as gasoline sales.
“It was helpful for our side, just hearing other people from another country ask questions and see the way we do things,” Bailey said. “They were most interested in how we calibrate our gasoline pumps.”
State inspectors demonstrated how to check a pump for accuracy to ensure that a gallon pumped is a gallon received, how to seal off a malfunctioning pump and how to collect motor fuel samples for lab analysis, among other issues. They also explained how test devices used in Virginia are calibrated to national and international standards.
“The role we’re playing is small but significant,” said Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Todd Haymore. “It will help Afghanistan in its rebuilding efforts, and I am proud that our VDACS employees had this opportunity to meet face-to-face with their counterparts from another country.”
