GOIC: QCAA, Premier Sponsor of the First Gulf Metrology Forum

The Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) announced that the Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) (state of Qatar) has joined the list of sponsors of the First Gulf Metrology Forum as a Premier Sponsor. 

The First Gulf Metrology Forum   is held in collaboration with Qatar’s Ministry of Environment, the GCC Standardisation Organization (GSO) and GULFMET under the patronage of His Excellency Engineer Ahmad Bin Amer Al-Hemaidi, Qatar’s Minister of Environment. The event will take place at the Hilton Hotel in Doha, Qatar on the 14th and 15th of December, 2015.

His Excellency Mr Abdullah Bin Nasser Turki Al-Subaey, Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority stated that sponsoring the event reflects the Authority’s endeavours to support activities aiming at developing the industrial sector in the Gulf. He explained that QCAA is keen to take part in this Forum in light of the increasing importance accorded to metrology. In fact, metrology today is a key pillar for manufacturing in developing countries and an important part of the industrial development cycle. 

GOIC Secretary General Mr. Abdulaziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel applauded the Civil Aviation Authority for supporting the First Gulf Metrology Forum by becoming a premier sponsor of this unique event. He highlighted the importance of the successful cooperation between GOIC and QCAA and praised the latter for its long and rich history and key role in supporting the development of civil aviation in the State of Qatar.  

The Civil Aviation Authority was founded in 2001 pursuant to Law No. 16 of 2001, later amended in 2009 and 2012 in accordance with the updated requirements of the domestic and international civil aviation sector. Qatar is indeed member of many international aviation organisations such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Arab Civil Aviation Commission (ACAC). QCCA has a legal personality and a budget that is affiliated with the Ministry of Transport. Since its foundation, QCCA has signed 152 agreements and memorandums of understanding with various countries all over the world. 

Vision and Objectives

The Civil Aviation Authority has intensified its efforts to keep up with the changes in different fields, and has worked towards the achievement of well-studied and clearly- defined work plans, according to International Civil Aviation Laws. Such main objectives and vision consist of the upgrade of the sectors of Civil Aviation and Meteorology towards the highest levels in terms of efficiency, accuracy, organizing the air space, aviation safety, and supervision at all aviation-related facilities; which realize a continuous growth and sustainable development at all levels.  

On a national and international scale, QCAA is the officially recognised authority in charge of   Air transport Affairs and takes part in developing policies relating to civil aviation locally, regionally and internationally through its internal departments and units and international organisations and unions.

Metrology and Meteorology

This Forum provides a new opportunity to underline the role of metrology in the fields of meteorology and climate. It also allows professionals working in these fields to present and discuss needs, methods, expertise and equipment in order to cooperate to create more reliable measurement data and expand the knowledge and understanding of these two fields. In recent years, interaction between professionals working in these fields increased throughout the world. In fact, there are currently many joint research projects aiming at offering results with valuable impact on meteorology and climate sciences. 

Cooperation between the sectors of metrology and meteorology aims at establishing procedures for tracing and checking measurements and uncertainties in the measurement of physical and chemical quantities used to describe the atmosphere. The availability of accurate data coming from metrology instruments is key to prepare environmental and meteorological studies and trace measurements and their levels of uncertainties. 

Instruments used in weather forecasts continuously record variables from basic climate data through many sensors on satellites, radiosondes in balloons, aircrafts and surface weather stations and buoys and monitoring devices in the deep sea. All of these devices operate in various environments and readings are affected by different quantities. This complex system requires customised calibration techniques and methods to guarantee a comprehensive documentation of the measurements and their uncertainties, thus providing an integrated comparison of metrology results. 

Official International studies show that the size of the global metrological services market is expected to be valued at 824.6 million USD by 2020. Studies reflect hopes to see a rise in the demand of high-precision components in key end-use industries like automotive, electronics and power generation over the next five years. In fact, GCC markets are ranked among emerging markets in the area of international metrological services with the rapid growth of the technological challenges. In addition to that, the regional conformity assessment regulations are important elements in the internationalisation of metrology activities of GCC countries, not only in energy industries, but also in various industries in light of the increasing demand for metrology services in the last decade. 

The 1st GMF comes in response to the increasing metrology requirements in today’s markets, and as a result of concerted efforts between governments and technical institutions in order to accomplish common metrology objectives in Gulf and international markets.

Many international organisations and companies are expected to participate in this Forum to encourage manufacturing industries and services in the Gulf. The aim is to remove technical barriers hampering trade, hence facilitating international collaboration in the field of metrology and strengthening Gulf-international agreements in the area of commercial and economic cooperation. More than 300 concerned parties in the GCC are expected to take part in this Forum. 

The 1st GMF targets government and private laboratories, relevant institutions and companies, ministries of commerce, industry and environment and industrial companies operating in the following areas: oil, gas, energy, petrochemicals, metallurgy, electricity, electronics and medical appliances, in addition to universities, scientific research institutions and international organisations specialised in metrology and calibration. 

The main objectives of the Forum are to exchange ideas about the best means to raise public and industrial awareness to comply with industrial measurements, to assess the requirements of Gulf industries and institutions in the area of metrology, and to examine means of increasing national capacities in the field of industrial measurements. In addition to that, ideas will be exchanged on how to attract new metrology activities in various fields, international best practices to reinforce metrology infrastructure as part of quality development in member states, the role of national metrology institutes and laboratories, the experiences of member states in supporting metrology activities and local laboratories, means to cooperate with international laboratories, and finally on how to put together applicable recommendations to support metrology activities in the GCC. In fact, the organisation of this Forum was based on global reports of companies operating in the area of metrology services. These reports revealed a projected increase of the demand on metrology services in the near future in various sectors, particularly automotive, electronics, energy and others. The recovery of the global economy will also have impacts on the Gulf, resulting in an investment increase in various fields like energy and industry and their associated services. 

As to the most important technical aspects of this Forum, they are as follows: raising awareness on the importance of metrology and its scientific, industrial and legal aspects, presenting experiences of GCC countries in this area, cooperating with international institutions to develop and support the role of metrology, communicating with concerned GCC parties in the field of metrology and getting to know the cognitive and procedural environment in GCC countries to include legal frameworks, researches and applications.