Standards Expert Joins U.S. Embassy In Argentina

Based on a recommendation from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to the Commercial Service at the U.S. Department of Commerce, Ileana Martinez has been appointed to the position of standards attach‚ at the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Martinez will report to U.S. government and private-sector interests on standards-related developments in Argentina. She also will work to help U.S. businesses and exporters obtain information on Argentine regulations and standards that might affect U.S. exports to the South American nation.

Martinez joined the U.S. Commercial Service in January 1996. Her assignment to the U.S. Embassy in Argentina was made under the terms of a memorandum between NIST and the Commercial Service, a unit of DoC's International Trade Administration. The memorandum covers formal and working relationships between the agencies for the assignment of standards experts to selected U.S. embassies and missions to achieve common goals concerning standards and exports.

Martinez will be located at the Argentine National Institute for Industrial Technology (abbreviated INTI for Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Industrial). She will provide technical support to the U.S. Ambassador and the Commercial Counselor at the U.S. Embassy and will work closely with the Argentine Institute of Standards and Materials (abbreviated IRAM for Instituto Argentino de Racionalizacion de Materiales). Upon request, Martinez will consult for the government of Argentina.

The selection of Martinez as the standards attach‚ in Buenos Aires is part of a NIST program in standards to help commercial service counselors in foreign embassies and missions with their efforts to assist U.S. companies overcome specifically standards-related and non-tariff technical barriers to trade. NIST operates a network of programs, including the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Saudi Arabia and India. Another post is being established in Mexico City. Martinez has been involved in domestic and international standards work for more than 25 years. She served for seven years as a standards engineer with the French Standards Association (abbreviated AFNOR for Association Francaise de Normalisation) in Paris. She also held positions as a standards engineer and grants administrator at NIST. Most recently, Martinez served as a quality engineer with the Defense Logistics Agency. Her extensive liaison activities with industry and government will aid her work in Buenos Aires.

Martinez is a native of Havana, Cuba. She holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the Catholic University, Washington, D.C. Martinez will be joined in Buenos Aires by her son and daughter, Eduardo and Ileana Pazos.

As a non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. economic growth by working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements and standards.