ESMA joins high-level debut meeting to plan GCC-wide co-operation

Speaking after the meeting, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Walid Al Mansouri, the head of the UAE's delegation and Director General of ESMA, said: "The authority's participation is in line with efforts towards further cooperation in all economic and commercial sectors in the Gulf and especially in the field of metrology. ESMA believes that the metrology systems affects the flow of products in the GCC in particular and the world in general."

Al Mansouri stressed the importance of finding a common formula for metrology among the GCC, which he believes would contribute greatly to improving the quality of manufactured products in the region. A move towards unification would enable GCC products to compete with internal and external markets, he said, adding that it was extremely important to remove any obstacles to a GCC-wide Customs union.

He said that the strong economic ties among the GCC countries make precise coordination in different fields a real possibility. "This meeting was made possible by the reformation of the GCC Metrology Authority, in which its longstanding general secretary Dr Rashid Ahmad bin Fahd played a major role," Al Mansouri said.

The main items on the agenda at the meeting were setting up the technical committees to manage the GCC Metrology Authority missions. The UAE's ESM delegation included Engineer Abdullah Al Sheriff, Director of the Department of Standardization, and Engineer Sultan Al Marzouqi, Head of the Metrology Section.