World Accreditation Day, which is celebrated with different themes every year in June 9th, was celebrated on 24-25 November 2021 in Ankara as a hybrit event with the theme of “Accreditation: Supports the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)!” under the pandemic conditions.

The event started with the opening speech of TÜRKAK Secretary General Banu Müderrisoğlu. Emanuele Riva, Chair of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), Maribel Lopez, Vice Chair of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), and Maureen Logghe, President of the European co-operation of Accreditation (EA) attended the event and gave their speeches on the role of accreditation in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in other words the Global Goals.

Müderrisoğlu: "We are proud to serve these purposes as a full member of EA, ILAC and IAF in all scopes and the sole national accreditation body of Turkey."

In her speech, Secretary General Müderrisoğlu, highlighted the contribution that accreditation can make in achieving the noble goals of ending poverty, protecting the planet, and ensuring that all people live in peace and prosperity by 2030.

Müderrisoğlu emphasized that as TURKAK, they are trying to promote and support the United Nations Global Goals, which is a global call to action, on the basis of “People”, “Planet” and “Prosperity”.

IAF Chair Emanuele Riva emphasized the importance of seeking solutions together against possible problems that may arise in the future and taking a united stance against the problems. Riva also emphasized that it is very valuable in this respect that ILAC and IAF will merge and become a single organization.

ILAC Vice Chair Maribel Lopez mentioned that sustainable development, which is one of the main goals of accreditation bodies, will make a "better world" possible and stated that a wide cooperation is needed from local governments to international organizations in line with this goal.

The second day of the event started with the speech of EA President Maureen Logghe. She reminded that accreditation creates a safety barrier. Logghe emphasized the importance of accreditation in terms of socially responsible investments (SRI’s) to yield successful results. She said that it is necessary to act within the spectrum of relations with governments, industry stakeholders and lawmakers.

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), IPA-II project contractor representatives, Presidency Strategy and Budget Department, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and TÜRKAK’s representatives gave their speeches and presentations in World Accreditation Day 2-days event with broad participation from the national and international environment.

We would like to express our endless gratitude to our colleagues, representatives of conformity assessment bodies, assessors and technical experts and all our stakeholders who supported our event with their invaluable participation.