Speech by H.E. the President of GSO on World Standards Day 2023

The GCC Standardization Organization for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GSO) joins similar bodies and organizations in the countries of the world in celebrating the 53rd World Standards Day, which falls on the fourteenth of October of each year, which commemorates the anniversary of establishing the international Organization for Standardization (ISO), established on 14 October 1947.

The theme “Standards and Sustainable Development Goals, our shared vision for a better world” was chosen, which is the theme for the past two years, and was chosen for the third time to emphasize the importance of standards and their connection to sustainable development goals, and to emphasize the pivotal role of sustainable development in meeting the needs of present days.

On October 14 of each year, members of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) celebrate World Standards Day, as an important way to pay tribute to the joint efforts of thousands of experts around the world who work on studies, research, and experiments to come up with agreed upon documents that are published as international standards.

On this occasion, I would like to extend my sincere congratulations and best wishes to the national standardization bodies in member states and relevant regional and international organizations in general, and those working in the standards activity in particular, in recognition of the great efforts they are making in the field of developing and preparing standards and technical regulations that contribute significantly to achieving the sustainable development goals.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which seek to address negative social phenomena, develop a sustainable economy, and slow the rate of climate change, are highly ambitious. To reach them will require the cooperation of many partners from the public and private sectors, and the use of all available tools, including international standards, technical regulations, and conformity assessment procedures. We must all unite to work together to accelerate the United Nations 2030 Agenda, with the standards for the SDGS, and our “shared vision for a better world.”

Each SDG represents an urgent call to action, and achieving these goals requires a collective effort, for peace, prosperity and well-being of people and planet.

This year’s celebration focuses on the third goal of the SDGs, which is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all, as having access to quality health care is a human right and necessary for sustainable development.

GSO, in cooperation with the national standardization bodies of member states and its partners from relevant international and regional organizations, work to develop and adopt many international standards in the fields of health care and quality of life.

In this regard, GSO has issued up to date about 27,000 Gulf standards and technical regulations for various sectors, products, and services, including those relating to health care and quality of life.

With the advent of digital health technology, international standards, as well as regional and national standards, help ensure the security of health systems, as well as protect patient privacy, facilitate the research and development process in adopting digital health technologies, as well as manufacture and maintenances of sophisticated and safe health care devices and systems, besides their contribution in manufacturing and providing for reliable medical devices, services and health systems that are available to a wide segment of the population of the world, in addition  to providing the basis for developing policies and effective regulation that encourage cooperation in  improving health care outcomes.

In conclusion, I seize this occasion to praise the great efforts exerted by the international, regional and national organizations in the field of standardization. I also extend my thanks and gratitude to all employees of GSO, the regional and international organizations, and national standardization bodies in the member states, and all supporters of GSO, and standardization and all its activities and fields.