SASO has launched an alignment project between the National Quality Strategy and Vision 2030, with the participation of selected experts and specialists in the field of quality from more than 32 governmental and private bodies in different sectors. The most prominent of these bodies are government ministries and organizations, a number of universities, professional and charitable societies, as well as some private companies and factories. This was during the opening seminar of this project, which was organized at the headquarters of SASO in Riyadh.

      Governor of SASO, Dr. Saad bin Othman Al-Kasabi, said that this project is a continuation of the first phase of the National Quality Strategy project and goes in  line with the Kingdom's Vision, which includes programs and national leading initiatives aimed at improving the quality of all services and products. It also aims to enable governmental and private bodies to apply quality standards and practices.

      Moreover, he explained that SASO will work through this project to restructure and categorize target sectors in the project based on the new government structures and work domains of each sector. It will also focus on legislative requirements and identifying partners and experts for each area. Al-Kasabi pointed that all components and pillars of quality infrastructure are included in the final report of the strategy to highlight its role in enhancing quality in the Kingdom, in addition to the inclusion of a specific part of the strategy about King Abdulaziz Quality Award and highlighting its role in enhancing competitiveness, to achieve the national institutional excellence model.

      Furthermore, Al-Kasabi stressed that SASO is striving to achieve qualitative outputs from this project, which will consolidate the culture of quality in all public and private sectors and enhance our services, in line with the ambitious directions of the Kingdom in its Vision 2030. He also stressed on the need for integration between all bodies, organizations and institutions from all sectors in dealing with this national project.

      For his part, Dr. Ayed Al-Amari, Project Supervisor, said that the National Quality Strategy was one of the most important outputs of the Fourth National Quality Conference. It is based mainly on the national vision of quality; that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia becomes a global standard in its services and products for quality and excellence by 2020. He pointed that the National Quality Strategy aims at developing a national reference framework, developing the quality infrastructure, creating a comprehensive program to spread the culture of quality, in addition to supporting innovation based economy and achieving the highest quality of services and products.

      Prof. Mohammad Za'iri, an international expert in quality, reviewed a number of best international practices in quality and institutional excellence. Moreover, he highlighted the experiences of Singapore, Korea, USA and others, stressing that quality is the main foundation of economic development, and that it is one of the main potentials in achieving the programs and initiatives of the Kingdom Vision 2030.

      ​The opening seminar of the National Quality Strategy and Vision 2030 concluded with a panel discussion attended by Dr. Saad Al-Kasabi, Dr. Khalid Al-Awad, Dr. Ayed Al-Amri and Prof. Mohammad Za'iri.