COMSTECH and Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC) jointly celebrated the accreditation day by organizing a seminar on “Accreditation for Quality Assurance and Socio-economic Development in OIC Countries” on Wednesday.
Secretary for Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr. Ghulam Muhammad Memon participated as the chief guest in the event. He said that this is an honor and privilege to address such an august gathering of scientists, policy makers and diplomats. He said today’s event emphasizes the importance of accreditation and its role for socio-economic development. Mr. Memon said that sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction can be achieved by augmenting the international trade which can only be possible through robust accreditation, certification, quality and testing infrastructure recognized by the relevant international forums. He appreciated COMSTECH and PNAC joint initiative to strengthen accreditation bodies to enhance the conformity and assessment quality in Pakistan and least developed African countries.
The Assistant Secretary General of Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Ambassador Askar Mussinov said in his message that I am really delighted to have an opportunity of speaking at this event jointly organized by COMSTECH and PNAC. The OIC is at the same page in celebration of the accreditation day. He said that it is of immense importance to ensure the quality measurement for socio-economic development of any country. He said that accreditation and conformity assessment play major role in achieving technical competence, integrity and impartiality of organizations along with making them to conform with international standards. He said that International standards organizations also open ways to secure markets to provide sale able products. He said that accreditation organizations help in reducing the human impact on the environment. Mr. Mussinov commended COMSTECH for its numerous capacity building initiatives for the least developed member states to help them to acquire knowledge and skills.
Coordinator General COMSTECH, Prof. Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary, welcomed the participants and shed light on the importance of accreditation for OIC member states. Prof. Choudhary said that accreditation is an extremely important approach towards standardization of the processes and products, analytical and diagnostic methods, scientific research or even business. He said that accreditation is now globally accepted as the gold standard of best practices in all forms of human endeavors. He briefed the audience about the large portfolio of S&T capacity building programs of COMSTECH in its 57 member states, as well as its role in Pakistan’s science diplomacy initiative.
The Director General PNAC, Ms. Ismat Gul Khattak gave a comprehensive talk on the importance of accreditation in achieving sustainable economic growth. She talked about the PNAC initiatives and achievements. Ms. Khattak said that PNAC can collaborate with OIC member states to provide accreditation training, develop pool of assessors, help in capacity building, share experiences, conduct joint assessment, provide accreditation services and conduct peer evaluation.
The President of Kazakhstan National Center of State Scientific and Technical Expertise (NSCTE), Prof. Dr. Adil Ibrayev, joined the session through Zoom. He talked about the aims, objectives and current achievements of NSCTE. Prof. Ibrayev offered collaboration of NSCTE with COMSTECH, PNAC and the OIC member states to work together.
The event was attended by participants both in-person and online from different OIC member states.
*******
