In the presence of the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry .. and with the participation of officials from private and governmental bodies, especially from Oman,

GCC Accreditation Center (GAC) organizes a workshop on accreditation and its role in improving products safety and quality infrastructure.

Muscat:

A workshop titled “Accreditation and its Role in Improving Products Safety and Quality Infrastructure” was held in Muscat under the patronage of H.E. Eng. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Dheeb, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Sultanate of Oman, on Sunday, May 13, 2018 at Sheraton Hotel, with the participation of many private and official bodies from Sultanate of Oman. This workshop supports the implementation of some objectives and initiatives supporting the national economy, and sheds light on Gulf region strategies that aim at contributing to improve quality infrastructure and enhance the competitiveness of Gulf industries globally.

GAC is one of the most important partners supporting the success of the Forum and Exhibition as it was established with the approval of GCC governments and the Republic of Yemen, under its establishment agreement approved by Their Excellency the ministers interested in quality and standardization activities in May 2013. GAC is one of the most significant gains for GCC member states as it is the first and fastest internationally-recognized multi economy accreditation body in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific region. It was inaugurated in January 2014and obtained the international recognition in June 2016. GAC has high levels of trust and credibility as it became an executive committee and board member of the most important intentional and regional accreditation organizations and chair some of its important committees.

Eng. Ahmed Al-Mutairi, Director General of GAC, said that GAC aims at enhancing quality infrastructure by reinforcing confidence in the performance of conformity assessment bodies to prove the conformity of products and services traded in the markets of the Gulf region in order to facilitate trade, develop industry and ensure environment and consumer safety and economic development. GAC provides suitable tools to achieve real integration between all sectors, small/medium enterprises, large entities and governments.

While GAC is of significant importance in line with the economic changes occurring in Oman, its role covers all sectors, including the new sectors such as tourism and tourism services added to the sectors that GAC seeks to provide development for the efficiency of its employees and for the services compatibility with relevant international practices which contribute to raising the efficiency of tourist attractions to positively impact visitors of heritage and tourism sites.

The importance of GAC activities in the GCC countries will be explained in details to assure the importance of partnerships of government bodies with GAC. Also, GAC importance lies in the influence of inspection services from accredited laboratories on the national industry for enhancing their international competitiveness. Moreover, the product conformity certification bodies ensure the safety of products imported into GCC courtiers, and inspection bodies promote fair markets, proper handling of products placed on the markets, and their correct integration with other products.