BEIRUT, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon announced on Monday that the World Health Organization (WHO) has agreed to fund the creation of a Central Laboratory for food and drug testing.

       Lebanese caretaker Health Minister Firas Abiad told a press conference that the WHO has signed a funding agreement with Lebanon to create the lab, "which we hope can be realized during the course of this year."

       A project to build the Central Laboratory was presented by the former health minister in 2018 but has since remained on paper.

       Since the 1990s, there has been no regulator in Lebanon responsible for testing locally developed and imported drugs by unified criteria, and all necessary food safety testing.

       According to Abiad, resuming the activities of such a laboratory would make it possible to centralize the quality tests of drugs, at a time when the authorities are attempting to boost local pharmaceutical production to make up for import shortages amid the current financial crisis.