Egypt inaugurates today the conference on Twinning Project between the European Union and the Egyptian Accreditation Council (EGAC). The twinning project conference has been inaugurated on Thursday by Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour. The event was in the presence of James Moran - Head of European Union Delegation to Egypt; Thomas Facklam – Chairman of European Co-operation for Accreditation; and Gamal Bayoumi - Secretary General of the Egyptian-European partnership agreement in addition to representatives of German and Italian embassies in Cairo as well as experts in quality and accreditation affairs. EGAC has won a full membership of both International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (ILAC) for the development of confidence and international recognition of the quality of Egyptian products. The Egyptian council has also signed a joint accreditation agreement with the ILAC and IAF. This is a significant step towards boosting confidence on the Egyptian accreditation system and quality assessment measures as pursuant to the international standards, said Egypt's Minister Abdel Nour. In the same vein, Egypt is currently undergoing measures, so that EGAC would obtain European co-operation for Accreditation (EA)'s international recognition. Egypt has been an associate member of EA since 2010. Abdel Nour further referred that Egypt was the first Arab state to obtain the international recognition and third in Africa after Tunisia and South Africa. The Egyptian Accreditation Council (EGAC) was established in 1996 by Presidential Decree number 312/1996. This decree was replaced in 2006 by Presidential Decree number 248/2006 which designates EGAC as the sole national body for the assessment and accreditation of conformity assessment bodies including testing and calibration laboratories, inspection bodies as well as certification bodies for products, management systems and personnel.
