ANNEX 2
WELCOME REMARKS BY
MDM. FADILAH BAHARIN
DIRECTOR GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF STANDARDS MALAYSIA
AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE 6th MEETING OF ACCSQ PRODUCT
WORKING GROUP ON WOOD BASED PRODUCT (WBPWG)
21-22 November 2007 9.00 am
PARK ROYAL, KUALA LUMPUR
Y. Bhg. Dato' Mohd Nazuri Hashim Shah
The Director General of MTIB cum the co-chair of the ACCSQ WBPWG
Dr Hadi Daryanto
The Chairman of the ACCSQ WBPWG
Honoured Guests
Distinguished Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Good Morning.
1. First of all, please allow me to begin, by
warmly welcoming all delegates and observers to
this 6th Meeting of the ACCSQ Wood Based
Product WG. Your presence here signals your
concurrence on the importance of this meeting
and I am glad to note that this meeting is
realised. To the foreign participants, let me bid
you “Welcome to Malaysia” or “Selamat Datang
ke Malaysia”.
2. It is good to meet our ASEAN timber
experts here this morning, please allow me to
say a few words about the works done in ASEAN
on standards, conformance and technical
regulations.
3. Sometime in the early 1990s, ASEAN
leaders were active in focusing and preparing
ASEAN member bodies towards the
implementation of ASEAN Free Trade
Agreement (AFTA) where tariff of goods are
being reduced to zero. Concurrently, the ASEAN
Economic Ministers (AEM) saw that one of the
issues to be addressed when tariffs for products
are zero is the non-tariff barriers still being
imposed by ASEAN countries; such as the need
for products to meet their national standards,
need for products to meet the conformity
assessment procedures of the individual ASEAN
countries, and or course the need to meet the
needs of individual regulators for regulated
products.
4. In view of this non-tariff barriers issue,
hence, in 1992, the ASEAN Economic Ministers
(AEM) established the ASEAN Consultative
Committee for Standards and Quality (ACCSQ)
with the aim of harmonizing national standards,
technical regulations and conformity assessment
procedures, wherever possible.
5. Now with the ASEAN leaders’ Vision for
ASEAN to be a single market, or towards
becoming the ASEAN Economic Community
(AEC) by 2020, the role and functions of ACCSQ
has been enhanced further by the ASEAN
Ladies and Gentlemen,
6. The membership of the ASEAN
Consultative Committee for Standards and
Quality (ACCSQ) comprised of National
Standards Institutions/Organisations from
ASEAN member countries. Thus, the
Department of Standards Malaysia, or briefly
known as STANDARDS MALAYSIA, being the
national standards institution of Malaysia, is
Malaysia’s representative to the ACCSQ as a
member. Chairmanship of the ACCSQ is done
on a rotation basis annually and currently,
Myanmar is the Chair of the ACCSQ, and
Malaysia, i.e. the Department of Standards
Malaysia, was the past Chair.
7. As of now, there are 12 working groups
under the ACCSQ, and five of these Working
Groups were established during the 24th ACCSQ
Meeting in Kuala Lumpur in August 2004. The 5
Working Groups were established in order to
support and accelerate regional integration in 11
priority sectors as agreed at the 10th ASEAN
Summit in November 2004 in Vientiane, Lao
PDR through an “ASEAN Framework Agreement
for the Integration of Priority Sectors”. The 11
priority sectors are rubber based product,
electrical & electronics, cosmetics, automotives,
wood based product, agro-based, e-ASEAN,
fisheries, healthcare (medical devices,
pharmaceuticals or medicinal products),
traditional medicines & health supplements. The
Wood Based Product Working Group (WBPWG)
is one of the new working groups established in
year 2004.
8. The ACCSQ meets twice a year and
attendance to the meeting is usually by
STANDARDS MALAYSIA and all chairs from the
12 working groups under the ACCSQ. For the
information of all delegates and observers,
currently, Malaysia chairs four out of 12 working
groups namely the Working Group on
Accreditation and Conformity Assessment,
Pharmaceutical PWG, Rubber Based PWG and
Medical Devices PWG. Malaysia also is the
Co-Chair of three Working Groups namely the
Working Group on Legal Metrology, Traditional
Medicine & Health Supplement PWG and this
Product Working Group.
9. I am confident that with active participation
from all ASEAN delegates, this meeting of
ACCSQ WBPWG will be successful and fruitful.
Furthermore, I would like to take this opportunity
to congratulate and to express my appreciation
to the organizing committee and secretariat staffs
for their hard and untiring efforts in making this
meeting a success.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
9. In conclusion, may I wish you all a fruitful
and productive meeting. I hope that everyone of
you will have the opportunity to develop
beneficial networking among the experts in this
industry. For your information, this year is Visit
Malaysia Year. So, don’t forget to visit our new
attraction in Kuala Lumpur, ‘The Eye of Malaysia’
or the ferris wheel located near the Titiwangsa
Lake. Once again, may I wish you welcome to
Malaysia and have a pleasant stay in Kuala
