Accreditation awareness leads to improved quality and standards of products, hence enhancing national export revenue. This is the reason our government is paying special attention to accreditation process.”
Friday, January 20, 2017
In order to sustain the existing Multilateral Arrangement Cooperation (MLA) signatory status with Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC), for QMS and EMS and extension of new scope for MA, for Product Certification, Peer Evaluation Team of PAC is evaluating the competence of Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC) from 16 to 20 January 2017. The team comprises of renowned highly trained experts from accreditation bodies of the region including China, Korea, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka.
The delegation met the Federal Minister for Science & Technology Rana Tanveer Hussain. The Minister assured full support to PNAC in all its activities that are carried according to its mandate. Secretary M/o S & T, Mr. Fazal Abbas Maken informed that there is a growing realization in the government regarding the importance of quality & productivity and for this reason, 2017 has been declared as the year of Productivity, Quality & Innovation (PQI) in the country.
During the meeting he Honorable Minister was updated by the team on the progress made so far during the peer evaluation. The team informed that accreditation provides an assurance to government, business and the consumer that organizations providing certification to a standard have the required competence and impartiality to do so as proved by fulfillment of international standards and requirements. Mr. CK Chung the Leader of the team highlighted the importance of accredited in the global economy and how countries have enhanced the exports using accreditation as a tool. The team members from S. Korea and Sri Lanka shared their own experiences. The member from China told that the coming 20 years’ trade among countries will mostly be through accreditation CABs. In trade, accreditation helps to underpin the credibility and performance of goods and services and the future trade will depend on reports/ certificates of accredited bodies.
DG PNAC Ms. Ismat Gul Khattak highlighted the importance of MRA/MLA in facilitating trade with other countries and shared the vision of PNAC to be among the top most reliable and competent accreditation bodies in the region. In the end, the team appreciated the high level of competence within PNAC which is vital for signing MRA/MLA.