The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by the Saudi Food & Drug Authority (SFDA) and G20 Saudi Secretariat, will host this Tuesday a virtual meeting with the leaders of the Global Harmonization Working Party (GHWP) of Medical Devices, as a part of the activities of the international conferences program held on the sidelines of Saudi Arabia’s presidency of the G20.
The meeting will be chaired by the Chief Executive officer of SFDA, Dr. Hisham bin Saad Al-Jadhey, with the participation of more than 31 representatives of member states of the organization, the organization’s counselors and representatives from the United States of America and Japan.
The Chairman of the GHWP and Vice Executive President for the Medical Devices Sector at SFDA, Eng. Ali Al-Dhalaan, said that the meeting will discuss the stages of progress in the organization’s strategic plan, the work of regulatory legislation and technical requirements from each work team, capacity building and competencies, as well as the integrative role between member states in relation to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, especially after the organization's transformation from an Asian into a global organization.
Saudi Arabia participates in all the scientific and technical work teams of GHWP with specialized and experienced members. Saudi Arabia also chairs two working groups for pre-marketing requirements - medical software, and quality management system for medical devices: audit and evaluation.
During the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's chairmanship of the organization, the member states agreed to the proposal of Saudi Arabia to change the name to a global organization, in order to achieve more harmony and global rapprochement with the regulatory authorities and bodies.
Saudi Arabia’s leadership of this organization is based on working on homogeneity and convergence in legislation and regulatory regulations for medical devices and products between countries and encourages investors in the field of manufacturing medical devices and products to enter the Saudi market. It also facilitates the entry of innovative medical devices and products and modern technologies and stimulates research and development centers.