Ministry of Economy becomes First Ministry in UAE to Gain ISO Accreditation

Ministry of Economy becomes First Ministry in UAE to Gain ISO Accreditation for Quality Management, Environment Management, and Occupational Health and Safety

Mansouri: “UAE Vision 2021 and National Agenda Requires Stepping-up Skills and Efficiency, Performance Excellence, Innovation and Creativity at Work”

Dubai-UAE: 08 February, 2014 – The UAE Minister of Economy (MoE) has received three ISO certificates from SGS Gulf, a subsidiary of SGS Swiss International, the global verification company. The new accreditations make the Ministry the first in the UAE to receive ISO certifications “the integrated Certification against all three Management System Standards” in quality management, environment management, and occupational health and safety.

His Excellency Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, received the three quality certifications that include ISO 9001 certification related to quality management systems, ISO 14001 environment management certification, and OHSAS 18001 ISO certification for the management of occupational health and safety.

The certificates were awarded at a special ceremony that was attended by Andrea Rachlin, the Swiss Ambassador to the UAE, Engineer Mohammed Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz Al Shehhi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy and Humaid Bin Butti Al Muhairi, Assistant Undersecretary for Commercial Affairs. Held at the Minister of Economy's office in Dubai, the ceremony was also attended by Adrian Bless, Deputy Head of Mission at Embassy of Switzerland in the United Arab Emirates, Tareq Ahmed Almarzouqi, Director of Government Communications at Minister of Economy, Alia Mohammed AlAmiri, Director of Corporate Excellence at Minister of Economy, Rachid Cherkaoui , Managing Director Middle East at SGS Gulf,  Dr. Shahul Mansoor,  Director, Systems & Services Certification, Arabian Peninsula at SGS Gulf,  Jayakrishnan.P,  Business Development Officer at SGS Gulf as well as senior ministerial officials.

The accreditations endorse the Ministry of Economy's conformance to the highest quality standards in its efforts towards developing a competitive, global and diversified economy. The ISO accreditations also reiterate the MoE's ongoing efforts to align itself with the Federal Government Vision 2021. In addition, the achievement validates one of the MoE's strategic goals for 2014-2016 of providing administrative services that conform to standards of quality, efficiency and transparency.
 
His Excellency Sultan Bin Saeed Al-Mansouri, Minister of Economy, said: “I commend the efforts made by different sectors and departments of the MoE - especially the corporate excellence department and its staff, as well as the special working groups that played a significant role in facilitating the MoE's achievement of the international accreditation in three key areas. Our success at receiving these certificates is largely due to the MoE's cooperation with strategic partners, including SGS Swiss that grants the international ISO certification. This achievement reflects the process of change in the Ministry that seeks to spread the culture of excellence and innovation at various levels.”

He added: “It is the MoE's priority to implement the highest internationally-recognised standards of quality as envisioned by the federal government under the directives of the UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.”

Al-Mansouri urged all cadres of the ministry in their various locations and capacities to endorse the highest quality of work and remain focused delivering excellence and innovation to enhance performance. The Minister pointed out that the UAE Vision 2021, and the national agenda, requires every individual to possess the skills, efficiency, excellence of performance, innovation, and creativity at work across businesses and services.

Andrea Rachlin, Ambassador of Switzerland to the UAE, congratulated the Ministry of Economy on achieving the significant milestone which he said demonstrated the MoE's leading role at both the national and regional levels in developing work-place efficiency in conformance to the highest acknowledged international standards. Ambassador Rachlin emphasised that some of the finest Swiss private sector companies were seeking to receive the same accreditation that was considered a testimony to elevated levels of customer service. He noted that public sector establishments in the UAE are recognised internationally for their pursuit of excellence indicating the efforts of the federal government in continuously upgrading its service offerings and exceeding the expectations of business partners. The Ambassador also lauded the friendship between the UAE and Switzerland and the strong bilateral economic relations between the two countries.

Undersecretary Mohammed Ahmed Bin Abdul Aziz Al Shehhi appreciated the efforts of the Minister of Economy in continuously raising the performance and customer service levels. He pointed out that the systematic action plans prepared and approved in advance by senior management and their implementation in a constructive manner had enabled the MoE to receive international certification in record time. The Undersecretary commended the technical team, the health, safety and environment team, and employees of the corporate excellence department for adopting best international standards and practices in daily operations at the MoE. Al Shehhi said the MoE would continue its efforts to work as one team and obtain ISO certifications in various fields and activities related to its work.

In its efforts to obtain the ISO certifications in areas of quality management, environmental management system, and management of occupational health and safety, the MoE developed a unified mechanism in accordance to international standards to identify, design, and document processes, procedures, models, and guides that worked holistically and optimised efficiency. The Ministry also worked to determine a control mechanism to perform operations by selecting performance indicators that were audited internally and externally, while carrying out an inventory to document overlapping of operations of the Ministry through a specific operations' map.

The Ministry established a methodology to identify areas of comprehensive input improvement and operations' development through administrative reviews via a mechanism embedded in the system. Determining the environmental impact of the MoE's operations, working to identify the risks associated with them, and adjusting those operations to reduce environmental impact to acceptable levels was also carried out. A final measure included specifying operations that posed occupational hazards and health risks for staff and associates and identifying necessary mechanisms to mitigate their impact at Ministry sites. Proper procedures to be followed in the event of natural disasters to reduce their effects were also factored in.

Alia Mohammed Al Amiri, Director of Corporate Excellence, said the establishment of modern integrated systems that enhanced quality of services and minimized negative impacts to the health, safety and environment were key to the MoE's ISO success. She underlined that constant commitment to the effective implementation of its vision and mission through the achievement of objectives that aimed to preserve environmental quality and occupational health and safety were the prime contributors towards achieving the accreditations.

Rachid Cherkaoui, Managing Director - Middle East for SGS Gulf, said: “We congratulate the UAE Ministry of Economy for becoming the first Government Entity to achieve the integrated Certification against all three Management System Standards. The comprehensive and rigorous assessment by the SGS Certification team revealed that the integration of these standards under one coherent system is designed and implemented effectively through-out the Organization at different sites such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah”.

“The key objectives such as enhancing the satisfaction of stake-holders, optimizing the usage and reducing the depletion of Natural resources and sustaining the safe performance in the face of significant hazards at work place are the key objectives of MoE and regular monitoring, measurement and analysis for further improvement were witnessed during the audit. Achieving these certificates reflects the commitment of the leadership, management, and staff of the Ministry in developing a knowledge-based economy”.  Added Rachid Cherkaoui.

The International Standardization Organization (ISO) represents a global system of uniform quality standards agreed upon internationally that would serve as a blueprint for quality assurance across different ranges and services. These standards become the overall quality goals for each institution and ministry that is keen to set for itself a standard of service excellence in the modern global economy. ISO certifications are considered a measure of comprehensive quality that is an essential parameter of success in today's competitive landscape.