KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) will extend maximum cooperation to Pakistan Standards Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) in achieving standardization of Pakistani products that is at par with international standards.
This was assured by Vice President FPCCI, Shaikh Haroon Rashid at the first meeting of PSQCA on Information Technology/Information Communications Technology (IT/ICT) hosted by FPCCI, here Federation House on Wednesday.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between FPCCI and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) in December 2010, whereby FPCCI and MoST agreed to collaborate in furthering the access of science and technology to trade and industry.
In pursuance of the MoU, some events were held at FPCCI and MoST research centres to promote the commercialization of research and development technologies created by the MoST research centres.
The fresh round of activities for 2012 has been initiated this year, with a focus on leather and pharmaceutical sectors.
The meeting commenced with an introduction to PSQCA and an overview of standardization in IT/ICT by Dr Shahzad Afzal, Deputy Director General, Standards Development Centre (SDC) of PSQCA.
Dr Afzal informed the participants that PSQCA has created two new technical divisions to promote the use of information technology and information communication technology through standardization in a way that balances the interests of all stakeholders and increases the global competitiveness of Pakistani products.
Kaukab Iqbal, Chairman of the Consumers Association of Pakistan spoke about the benefits of standardization in this area from a consumer's point of view, and how the consumer stands to gain eventually from a clearer policy in this regard.
Engineer M.A. Jabbar, Chairman of FPCCI's Standing Committee on R&D and WTO Cell, and Member of the Board of PSQCA reminded the participants that FPCCI had been cooperating with PSQCA and MoST ever since the MoU was signed in 2010 by holding joint events and activities.
In this regard, FPCCI hosted a similar event of a meeting of the PSQCA's Technical Experts Group (TEG) on February 29, 2012, he said.