The Kingdom participated in the 12th meeting of the General Assembly (GA) and the 15th meeting of the Board of Directors (BOD) of Standards and Metrology Institute for the Islamic Countries (SMIIC) in Istanbul, Turkey. The Kingdom's participation, during the period from 25th to 26th of November, 2017, came with a delegation headed by HE the Governor of SASO, Dr. Sa'ad bin Othman Al-Kasabi and the membership of a number of officials from SASO and Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA).

     The meetings discussed a number of important issues related to standardization and specification in the Islamic countries, in order to promote joint Islamic action. Financial issues such as the value of the annual obligatory contributions of member countries for 2018, and the unpaid contributions of some of the member countries of the BOD of SMIIC were discussed. Three new countries were accepted as members of SMIIC.

     During these meetings, SASO was elected to the Board of Directors and membership of the Standardization Council for the period 2018-2020. The Saudi Accreditation Committee was elected to the membership of the Accreditation Council for the period 2018-2020.

     Dr. Sa'ad Al-Kasabi is the Vice President of SMIIC from 2014 until the end of 2017, thus strengthening the Kingdom's leading role in standardization activities in relevant regional and international organizations.

     It is worth mentioning that SASO participates periodically in meetings of Arab, regional and international organizations, in which it is a member. Such participation is meant to keep abreast of the developments in the various areas of standardization, which is reflected positively on the various activities of SASO.