TÜRKAK 2023 Advisory Board Meeting was held in Ankara under the chairmanship of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mehmet Kemal BOZAY and with the participation of Secretary General Banu Müderrisoğlu.
At the opening of the meeting, which was held in the form of a workshop, TÜRKAK Chairman of the Board of Directors Ambassador Mehmet Kemal Bozay and TÜRKAK Secretary General Banu Müderrisoğlu addressed the Advisory Board members.
“TÜRKAK is the Sole Nation Accreditation Body in Türkiye”
Ambassador Mehmet Kemal Bozay, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of TÜRKAK Board of Directors, stated that there is a very serious work on accreditation and standardization in the international arena and said that accreditation is one of the indispensable conditions to eliminate technical barriers in international trade.
Reminding that TÜRKAK is a full member of the European Accreditation Association (EA), the respected organization of the European Union, in all fields, Bozay emphasized the importance of TÜRKAK's activities in the "twin transformation" process realized through the Green Deal and digitalization. Stating that we, as a country, should continue to strengthen the quality infrastructure, Bozay stated that TÜRKAK is the sole national accreditation body in the field of conformity assessment in our country. In this regard, he underlined the importance of regulatory authorities seeking TÜRKAK accreditation in public procurement, legislation and regulations, CABs in our country relying only on TÜRKAK for accreditation services, and not giving credence to illegal initiatives.
“We are preparing to turn a quarter century and celebrate our 25th anniversary, crowned with success.”
Speaking at the opening of the Advisory Board, Secretary General Banu Müderrisoğlu emphasized that TÜRKAK was preparing to celebrate its 25th anniversary and that it benefited from the evaluations and recommendations of the Advisory Board when determining its annual activities, and stated that they always act with the determination to continue to do better as they complete a quarter century.
Emphasizing that, as TÜRKAK, they have carried out important work in terms of increasing accreditation and quality awareness, Müderrisoğlu stated that they have recently cooperated with all stakeholders, especially the Ministry of National Education and universities, in order to increase accreditation awareness. Emphasizing that TÜRKAK's digital infrastructure was strengthened to strengthen the accreditation and quality infrastructure, Müderrisoğlu stated that all transactions were carried out through the new software system with the zero paper principle, 384 new accreditation applications were received in the last year and the number of accredited organizations reached 2165 as a result of a total of 2162 assessments.
Müderrisoğlu explained that TÜRKAK attaches great importance to raising awareness about accreditation and quality, and stated that TÜRKAK is one of the most followed accreditation institutions with over 1.5 million impressions and over 40 thousand followers annually on social media platforms. Reminding that TÜRKAK, with its leading role in international trade, started accreditation services in areas such as food, aviation and greenhouse gas, Müderrisoğlu stated that 8 new documents that will facilitate the accreditation processes in 2023 were published and 95 documents were updated.
Stating that they are proud of taking our country to the top 10 worldwide in the field of accreditation, Müderrisoğlu stated that they continue their international cooperation in order to improve this success and ensure that other countries benefit from this success. In this context, Müderrisoğlu said that a memorandum of understanding was signed with ATCG (Montenegro National Accreditation Agency) in Montreal and also had a cooperation meeting with the German Accreditation Body DakkS, the United Kingdom Accreditation Body UKAS, the Dutch Accreditation Body RvA and the Serbian Accreditation Body ATS during the year. Müderrisoğlu reminded that their cooperation continues within the local framework and a protocol was signed with the Turkish Standards Institute and the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency of Türkiye.
After the opening speeches, moved on to the workshop section and ideas were exchanged with the Advisory Board members about the possible developments in the field of accreditation in the next 5 years and the impact of these developments on the activities of the TÜRKAK. After sharing the workshop results, the Advisory Board meeting ended.
