TÜBİTAK President Prof. Dr. Ahmet Arif ERGİN visited SASO on 27-28 February 2017 to observe the latest status of the projects carried out between TÜBİTAK UME and the Metrology Institute (NMCC) of the Standard, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Since 2014, the visit was carried out in order to examine the projects carried out on site and to hold coordination meetings with SASO President Dr. Saad O. ALKASABI, institution managers and project management. TÜBİTAK President Prof. Dr. Ahmet Arif ERGİN, Secretary General Süleyman YAŞAR, TÜBİTAK President Advisor İsmail Burak KURT, Head of International Relations Department Hakan KARATAŞ and TÜBİTAK UME Director Dr. Mustafa ÇETİNTAŞ also attended the visit.
During the visit, the laboratories established by TÜBİTAK UME at SASO/NMCC were visited and the systems installed were examined on site.
In addition to exchanging information about the current projects being carried out, discussions were also held on new projects for the future. In this context, especially SASO's requests for the establishment of the legal metrology infrastructure within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by TÜBİTAK UME were mutually evaluated and a principle decision was taken to initiate the necessary work immediately.
TÜBİTAK UME has reached the final stage in the turnkey installation of the scientific metrology system, which constitutes the most important pillar of the quality infrastructure required in the country for the removal of technical barriers in trade in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with projects including the establishment of 29 laboratories and sub-laboratories in the fields of Physics, Electrical-Electronics, Mechanics and Chemistry, on-site training and consultancy for SASO/NMCC, training of the institution's experts and ensuring the traceability of this system to the international metrology system.
The intensive program of TÜBİTAK President and the accompanying delegation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia continued with a visit to KACST (King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology) within the framework of the cooperation protocol signed between the two institutions in September last year.
During the meeting between the delegations, strategic issues and implementation processes related to the joint research project calls planned to be opened were evaluated. During the meeting, the strategic importance of establishing a common satellite-based regional positioning and timing system was also discussed and it was decided to organize a joint workshop within the year with the participation of experts from the institutions to exchange more detailed information in this context.
