Riyadh, May 25, 2021, SPA – Minister of Commerce Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi on Tuesday stressed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is exerting huge effort in upgrading its national quality policy and infrastructure, especially in the standardization and metrology fields, out of a deep realization in the metrology's immense contributions to boosting economic and industrial growth. Al-Qasabi's remarks came during his inauguration speech of the International Metrology Forum 2021, which was organized by the Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO). The minister, who is also Chairman of Board of Directors of the SASO, noted that the government is extending all forms of support to SASO, voicing pride in the organization's highly qualified human resources and its significant contributions in supporting the Kingdom's growth and modernization endeavor. Underlying the importance of metrology science in boosting national and international economies, Al-Qasabi noted that the Kingdom has been devoting particular attention to the measurement and standardization field, beginning with the issuance of the first Royal decree in 1963 on the metrology bylaw through the present time. The minister also highlighted the importance of the metrology science in improving the healthcare sector in scientific research, citing in this regard the health challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis which required collaborative international efforts to mitigate. For his part, SASO Governor Saad bin Othman Al-Kasabi noted that the 2021 International Metrology Forum, held under the title “Measuring for Health”, came during exceptional health, economic and social circumstances with the entire world struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, underlying in this context the importance of metrology and standardization in supporting the scientific research seeking to alleviate the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. Emphasizing the metrology science's contributions to enhancing the healthcare system, Al-Kasabi explained that the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) provides measurement standards and the calibration services in the radiation field to the national metrology institutions around the world and to the World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which help in ensuring accuracy in diagnosis and effectiveness in the treatment of around seven million patients worldwide who undergo radiotherapy annually, as well as to 33 million patients diagnosed by nuclear medicine, and to more than 360 million patients diagnosed by X-rays, in addition to monitoring around 11 million people working in a radiation environment to prevent them from radiation overdoses. --SPA 21:01 LOCAL TIME 18:01 GMT 0038 www.spa.gov.sa/w1562222