Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Security Advisor and Vice Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council
Abu Dhabi-UAE: 24 April, 2013: The Abu Dhabi Quality Forum (ADQF), organised by Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (QCC), is set to be held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Advisor and Vice Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, from 28 - 29 April at the Jumeirah - Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi.
ADQF aims to serve as an innovative networking platform for government leaders, regulators and heads of industry, as well as international and regional experts to enhance the emirate of Abu Dhabi's quality infrastructure and position it as a leading quality and conformity hub.
The event will witness 54 prominent national industry experts, as well as 25 regional and global speakers deliberating on key quality prerequisites to aid the development of a diversified, sustainable economy in Abu Dhabi, which is underpinned by its resilient industrial fabric.
His Excellency Hussain Salem Al Katheeri, Secretary General, QCC, said: "As a council of regulators and industry, QCC's strategy is aligned with the objectives of Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030. These objectives require coordinated effort from all of us. By hosting a group of international experts and visionary leaders, ADQF is dedicated to improving Abu Dhabi's quality infrastructure to a world-class level.
"It gives me great pleasure to announce our partners for ADQF that include Abu Dhabi Media, Intertek, British Standards Institute (BSI), Bureau Veritas, GCC Standardization Organization (GSO), Hansgrohe, KEO International Consultants, Kludi RAK, National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL). These prominent organisations will play an essential role in ensuring the success of our event and help us facilitate strong alliances between industry and government entities. Also, this forum would have not been possible without the support and active engagement of the QCC board of directors."
The forum will include 21 sessions that consist of plenary and brainstorming sessions, as well as workshops. The plenary sessions will focus on the following themes: Building World-Class Quality Systems for Economic Development in Abu Dhabi, Learning Quality From Innovative Companies, Sustainability as a Quality Imperative, Food Safety Standards Drive Quality, Making Child Safety a Priority, Trust Marks: Certifying Standards or Rewarding Excellence?, Combating Counterfeiting to Protect the Consumer, Mapping New Targets of Quality in MENA and the UAE Building Code.
The 11 plenary sessions will aim to stimulate collective thinking on strategy, leadership and vision and feature well-known moderators. The focus areas of the deliberations will include the role of innovative quality standards in the making of a globally competitive Abu Dhabi economy, how the adoption of inventive quality strategies can promote global competiveness among companies, why a sustainable economy is the cornerstone for Abu Dhabi's future, the kinds of sustainability standards that contribute to economic development, how food labelling can increase consumer confidence, and an industry model that encourages companies to adopt global best practices in safety.
The six workshops, which will be theme-specific and facilitate group discussions for industry experts, will shed light on metrology, consumer safety, product and personnel conformity as well as energy and water standards that are aligned to the Abu Dhabi 2030 Vision.
In addition, the forum will host four brainstorming sessions that promote strategic insight, develop new scenarios and scopes of work on topics such as asset management, fire safety and quality standards for SMEs.
The list of regional and international speakers include participants from France, Germany, India, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, UK and US. Some of the prominent speakers include H.E. Rashid Ahmed Mohammed Bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water, H.E. Dr. Thani Al Muhairi, H.E. Rashid Mohammed Khalfan Al Shariqi, Director General at Abu Dhabi Food Control Authroity (ADFCA), H.E. Mohamed Al Hammadi, Chief Executive Officer at Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), Faisal Al Bannai, Chief Executive Officer at Axiom Telecom LLC, Abdullah Saeed Al Darmaki, Chief Executive Officer at Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, Marcel Hochar, Regional Chief Executive Officer at Bureau Veritas, Khaled Salmeen Al Kawari, Chief Executive Officer at Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD), Lieutenant General Dr. Abdul Qadous Al Obaidli, Chairman of Emirates Intellectual Property Association (EIPA), Homaid Al Shemmari, Executive Director at Mubadala Aerospace, Eng. Saud Rashed Al Askar, Director of Conformity Assessment Department at GCC Standardization Organization (GSO) in KSA, Dr. Jens Butenandt, Managing Director at TÜV SÜD Product Service GmbH in Germany, Dr. Wolfhart Hauser, Chief Executive Officer at Intertek Group PLC in UK, Howard Kerr, Chief Executive at BSI Group in UK, and Peter Unger, Chair at International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).
Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council is mandated to develop and implement a quality conformity plan that contributes to achieving Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 through establishing quality custodians in the emirate such as conformity assessment programs and using appropriate tools including testing capabilities, certification services, market surveillance and standards.
The Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council was established in 2009 to raise the quality of Abu Dhabi's exports and products traded locally, while protecting the interests of the emirate's consumers and supporting its competitive economy. This is achieved through enabling regulators to establish and implement product safety, legal metrology and conformity schemes. QCC also sets guidelines and benchmarks to identify and verify that the products manufactured and traded in the emirate conform to the highest quality standards.
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About Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council
The Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (QCC) was established by law No. 3 of 2009, issued by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE.
QCC is responsible for the development of Abu Dhabi Emirate's Quality Infrastructure, which enables industry and regulators to ensure that products, systems and personnel can be tested and certified to UAE and International Standards.
Development of Abu Dhabi's Quality Infrastructure ensures that the goods and services traded in Abu Dhabi meet the standards of an international developed economy and is central to positioning Abu Dhabi among the most competitive and innovative economies in the world.
For further information and inquiries please contact:
Sarah Al Shawa
Telephone: +971.2.4917525
Mobile: +971.56.114.2951
salshawa@apcoworldwide.com
© Press Release 2013
