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Tongan turmeric powder headed to Austria! Island Women target $55 billion global botanical and herbal market

15th July 2024, Belmopan, Belize: Mr. Elan Sudberg, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Alkemist Labs, a U.S. analytical testing laboratory, said that the Island Women Open Network (IWON) Pilot Initiative for the Development of a Global Sustainable Botanical/Herbal Supplier Market from SIDS will require quality control testing of botanical, herbal and plant ingredients and products, therefore, a botanical testing lab is critical to developing the industry in small islands.

During his virtual presentation at the third meeting of the IWON Committee, held on 28th May 2024, in the margins of the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) in Antigua and Barbuda, from 27-30 May 2024, Mr. Sudberg noted that many small islands have incredible botanicals and herbs that have been used for centuries in medicines, cosmetics, foods and beverages, and as the SIDS begin to build the industry and look to export beyond its borders, a botanical testing lab will be an important part of this initiative.

Alkemist Labs has the ability to provide robust test methods and successful testing support and the IWON Committee expressed the hope to partner with Alkemist Labs in assisting in the development and operation of a pilot botanical testing lab in SIDS.

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SIDS DOCK is a United Nations (UN)-recognised international organisation established in 2015, with all the rights and privileges for addressing climate change, resilience, and energy security in small islands. SIDS DOCK represents 32 small islands and low-lying developing states across the globe, and is so named because it is designed as a “DOCKing station,” to connect the energy sector in SIDS with the global markets for finance and sustainable energy technologies. The organisation’s work is coordinated by the Secretariat, in Belmopan, Belize.