President Asif Ali Zardari said that standards have been developed to increase efficiency and reduce costs, and the international community has developed state-of-the-art standards for the optimal use of human and material resources.
Developing countries like Pakistan must make full use of those standards, which will not only maximise their profits, but also enable them to stay competitive in the modern day environment. He said this in his message issued on Saturday on the occasion of World Standards Day to be observed today (Sunday). The theme of the World Standards Day this year "Less waste, better results - Standards increase efficiency" is a most timely and appropriate call for optimal utilisation of resources, reducing waste and maximise efficiency in the production chain.
On this occasion let us reaffirm our commitment and think of new ways to optimise the use of dwindling resources and increase efficiency in the production process in a highly competitive world. For developing economies like Pakistan the need for conformity of its products and services to the internationally recognised standards and quality can not be overemphasised.
The need for this has never been as great as it is today as Pakistan has embarked upon an aggressive policy of promoting trade with countries in the region including India and Afghanistan. We must firmly establish our credentials as a country observing international quality standards for environmental protection and minimising the wastage of scarce resources.
In this context, it is quite reassuring to note that Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority was undertaking strenuous efforts to promote standards and conformity assessment to further strengthen the national economy and also protect the consumers from the businesses malpractices.
The active involvement of civil society, non-governmental organisations and the corporate sector is an encouraging development and promises greater success in our efforts to ensure quality and maintaining standards.
I am confident that observance of this day today will contribute towards creating even greater awareness among the industrialists, businessmen and corporate sector of the country about the importance of adhering to internationally recognised standards in their products and services to the consumers particularly in the area of reducing waste. Once again, I appreciate the role of PSQCA and commend efforts of the thousands of experts who were involved in developing and promoting standards and quality assessment practices all across the world.-PR