The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) welcomed Nabil Molla, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Standardization Organization (GSO), and a delegation of GSO member standards bodies on April 22, 2013, at ANSI's offices in Washington, DC. In addition to Mr. Molla, the delegation included representatives from the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO), the Sultanate of Oman, the Public Authority for Industry of the State of Kuwait, and the Yemeni Organization for Standards. The delegation is visiting a number of private- and public-sector organizations during their trip, with the goal of learning more about the U.S. system for standards and conformity assessment.
ANSI senior management and staff provided the delegation with an overview of the U.S. system and ANSI's role, as well as detailed information about ANSI's accreditation activities. Following their visit to ANSI, the GSO delegation will also be meeting with ANSI member standards developing organizations, as well as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and other government agencies.
ANSI and the GSO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in September 2009 [see related news item], and has participated in several joint activities such as the November 2009 GSO workshop on best practices for standardization [see related news item]. Following a very productive and positive discussion on April 22, ANSI and the GSO agreed to identify further areas for cooperation and mutual information exchange under the MoU. Potential topics may include energy efficiency standardization, Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and food safety through initiatives such as the Safe Quality Food (SQF) Program.
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