SASO Hosts Workshop for Small and Medium Enterprises

The Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Org. (SASO) has hosted a workshop under the title "Survey on Opportunities and Challenges Faced by Small and Medium Enterprises in Applying Standards in GCC Countries" in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO); the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (monsha'at); and the GCC Standardization Organization.

Eng. Saud bin Rashid Al-Askar, Deputy Governor for Quality and Conformity, said in a speech on behalf of the Governor of SASO that the Kingdom Vision 2030 has established a new economic era based on the empowerment of small and medium enterprises as one of the most important engines of economic growth and one of the most effective tools to create jobs, support innovation and encourage exports. In addition, he pointed out that more efforts and studies should be made to provide strategic capabilities which will enable this sector to play its role in sustainable development.

Furthermore, he added: "SASO is making great efforts to enable small and medium enterprises. It provides technical support to these enterprises in order to improve the quality of their products and services through the application of standard specifications and quality systems, in addition to providing access to external markets by providing technical requirements for export markets and assisting them to meet those requirements.

Al-Askar pointed out that SASO is cooperating with relevant authorities to provide the services needed by producers and exporters of small and medium enterprises to enter the new markets and contribute in increasing national exports and removing obstacles from these exports. This is done by providing exporters with the requirements to enter international markets such as: (standard specifications, technical regulations, national differences and any other requirements.)"

For his part, the expert from UNIDO, Eng. Osama Al-Meleiji, confirmed that standard specifications represent a key factor in enabling small and medium enterprises to participate in economic and industrial development. He pointed out to the role of standard specifications in improving the quality of products and services and achieving sustainable development in general.

Moreover, Al-Meleiji said that the survey conducted by UNIDO is the result of joint cooperation between the organization and national standardization bodies in GCC countries in order to achieve sustainable development goals set by UNIDO.