GSO Participates in the 58th Meeting of the Arab Supreme Committee for Standardization
The GCC Standardization Organization (GSO) participated in the (58) meeting of the Arab Supreme Committee for Standardization of the Arab Organization for Industrial Development, Standardization and Mining AIDSMO, which was held on 15-16 March 2023, in Rabat, Morocco, with participation of member states of AIDSMO, and with presence of Representatives of 19 Arab countries, the League of Arab States, and a number of regional and international organizations specialized in standardization.
At the opening of the session, which was chaired by the Republic of Yemen, the Director General of AIDSMO, His Excellency Eng. Adel Saqr Al-Saqr, hailed the efforts of the Arab standardization bodies and the Arab Supreme Committee for Standardization for putting forward and proposing policies and work programs for various standardization activities, and their fruitful cooperation with AIDSMO.
GSO participated in a speech in the opening session of the meeting, delivered on behalf of GSO President, by Eng. Abdullah Al-Hadlaq, Head of GSO Technical Committees of the Standards and Metrology Department, in which he highlighted GSO’s endeavor to continue its tasks and strengthening its position on the Gulf, regional and international levels, guided by its strategic vision 2025, to be the trusted regional expertise house for standardization activities and the first enabler of the Gulf Common Market.
He also pointed out that GSO has accomplished important achievements in the field of standards, metrology, conformity and notification of conformity assessment bodies, as well as technology, capacity building and knowledge, media and marketing, and relations at the regional and international levels. All these efforts culminated in the year 2022 by GSO obtaining the Institutional Excellence Award from the European Foundation for Quality Management EFQM and launching its new identity.
In his speech, he reviewed the areas of cooperation with AIDSMO, where GSO worked during the past period to activate the memorandum of understanding signed between AIDMOS and GSO in 2018, by accepting AIDSMO’s invitation to participate in the meetings of the specialized committees, and presenting its experience in the field of the Gulf standards system and its supporting electronic systems, as well as the Gulf System for conformity assessment, technical regulations in certain fields, Gulf conformity mark, product safety system and market surveillance programs. GSO has also worked to increase the exchange of experiences and knowledge with specialists of AIDSMO, in addition to exchange of annual training plans, and coordinating stances in regional and international arenas on topics and issues of mutual interests to serve the interests of member states.
The agenda of this session comprised topics such as endorsement, adoption and updating of more than 500 Arab standards, in addition to the endorsement of the final version of the Arab Program for Halal Products, and the selection of the theme for the Arab Standardization Day for the year 2023, and agreement on the main elements of the Arab strategy for standardization and quality for 2024-2028.
At the end of the meeting, the Chairman of the 58th meeting of the Arab Supreme Committee for Standardization, His Excellency Eng. Hadid Muthanna Almas, Director General of the Yemen Standardization, Metrology and Quality Control Organization (YSMO), was honored.
On the other hand, and on the sidelines of the 58th meeting of the Arab Supreme Committee for Standardization, a bilateral meeting was held between GSO and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM International) to discuss communal areas of interest for cooperation between the two sides.
It is worthwhile mentioning that GSO signed a MoU with AIDSMO in 2009, and it was renewed in February 2018.
It included cooperation in the fields of standardization with a view to enhance joint Arab action and supports active participation in regional and international standardization.
