Key body formed to frame quality policy

FE Report Industries Minister Dilip Barua said on Sunday that the government has taken initiatives to formulate a 'National Quality Policy' to strengthen the Bangladesh Accreditation Board (BAB) through building quality testing infrastructure of the country. "We have formed a core committee to formulate a National Quality Policy that would help strengthen the board through building National Quality Testing Infrastructure," he said while speaking as the chief guest at a seminar on "Accreditation: Facilitating World Trade" marking the World Accreditation Day at the auditorium of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI). DCCI and BAB jointly organised the event which, was chaired by the Director General (DG) of BAB Md. Abu Abdullah. Director of BAB Shudhakar Datta gave address of welcome. Country Manager of Bureau Veritas (Bangladesh) Pvt. Ltd. Md. Gloam Kibria presented the key note paper at the seminar. The industries minister said that accreditation is closely related to country's industrialisation, export and import process. He said that BAB has to abide by and maintain the international guidelines and quality policy. He said that our businessmen spend a lot of money by testing their exportable products in abroad. Mr Barua emphasised on strengthening activities of BAB and wings under it. He mentioned that five laboratories have already got accreditation from BAB recently. He also laid stress creating awareness among the mass people about accreditation and its advantages. He called upon the stakeholders to come up with realistic and constructive suggestions for strengthening Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI) and BAB. The Ministries of Industries (MoI) will take necessary steps in this regard. DCCI President Md. Sabur Khan said that accreditation body is important in terms of creating international acceptability of goods, reducing cost of doing business, increasing customers' confidence and balance of environmental issues. He emphasised on creating skilled workforce in this sector. He said international business should be expanded without hampering human being and the environment. He also said that for sustainable business, cost of standardisation should be reduced. He proposed to establish accredited laboratories of international standard in Bangladesh under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. He recommended strengthening of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI), Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), Department of Fisheries, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Atomic Energy Commission and International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr.b). Secretary of Ministry of Industries Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah said accreditation plays a significant role in businesses in the world of open market economy. He called upon trade bodies to come forward to establish monitoring system to ensure quality of products. DCCI Senior Vice President Nessar Maksud Khan, Vice President Absar Karim Chowdhury, Directors Haider Ahmed Khan, FCA, Humayun Rashid and M Abu Hurairah, among others, were present.