GSO Participates in the 18th SMIIC General Assembly
The GCC Standardization Organization (GSO) participated in the 18th General Assembly meeting of the Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC).
The meeting was held in Makkah, on 01 November 2023, and was hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO), with a wide participation encompassed delegations from more than (45) Islamic countries, international and regional organizations.
The opening session was chaired by His Excellency the Governor of SASO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of SMIIC, Dr. Saad bin Othman Al-Qasabi. During the opening session, His Excellency the President of GSO, Mr. Saud bin Nasser Al-Khusaibi, said in his speech that the blessed unity, the bond of brotherhood, the unity of destiny, and the compass of Islamic direction are the goal and the mean that should prompt us to coordinate and harmonize efforts to unify standards, conformity assessment procedures and mutual recognition to eliminate technical barriers to trade, in a way that contributes to developing trade and supporting trade exchange, in compliance with the directions of SMIIC on the Islamic level, the Arab Industrial Development, Standardization and Mining Organization (AIDSMO) on the Arab level, and GSO on the Gulf level.
His Excellency stated that the challenges we are witnessing today, and in light of the conglomeration of countries and organizations to serve their agenda, impose on us a greater challenge than ever before, and imposes on us greater interconnection and cohesion at the Gulf, Arab and Islamic levels, in a way that serves the unification of standardization activities and contributes to building technical capabilities, and strengthens our position and unifies our visions on the international arena, in a way that accomplishes the aspirations of our countries and peoples.
Mr. Al-Khusaibi pointed out that GSO strives with sustained efforts to develop its relations with its partners in all disciplines of standardization, rendering its expertise, capabilities, and achievements in the service of this partnership, out of belief in responsibility, and in achieving the principle of sustainable partnership, as GSO works in cooperation and coordination with member states and under the guidance of their Excellencies the members of the Ministerial Committee for Standardization Affairs, and members of the Technical Council, to develop and support quality infrastructure activities, in implementation of the decisions of their Majesties and Highnesses, leaders of the GCC member states, to achieve the objectives of the economic agreement signed between the Gulf Cooperation Council States, which is related to the customs union and the Gulf common market, through unifying standards, conformity assessment procedures and protecting the interests of member states.
He added that GSO has issued more than 26,927 Gulf standards and technical regulations, developed the unified system for product safety in the Gulf common market, and signed more than (73) MoU and technical cooperation with corresponding standardization organizations. GSO is an observer member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Committees on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), a full member of the International Telecommunication Union ITU, a member of the Advisory Body of the Animal Health Organization and the International Code Council, and has entered into electronic integration with many international and regional standardization organizations.
He added that GSO signed a MoU with SMIIC with the aim of establishing cooperation relations between the two organizations, as an institution affiliated with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, in order to enhance standardization activities through harmonizing standards and technical regulations, conformity assessment procedures, notification activities, capacity building programs, and exchange of information, expertise and experts. Putting all that into practice, work programs for specialists, training activities, attendance of technical committee meetings, exchange of information, reports, training plans, and other areas covered by the MoU are being implemented.
It is worthwhile mentioning that SMIIC works to develop standards that provide high quality products and services for use at the global level, and to ensure the effective participation of stakeholders. During the meetings, decisions and recommendations are made in support of the joint Islamic action in order to strengthen the infrastructure for quality and supporting the needs of member states, which contributes to facilitating intra-trade among Islamic countries and access of their products into the global market.
The hosting of the meetings by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia confirms its pivotal role regionally and internationally in enhancing cooperation and joint Islamic action in all fields.
