ARAC has held very successfully its fifth Annual Meetings in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from the 19^th to 23^rd February 2017. The program including an Executive Committee Strategy session, Peer evaluators Regional workshop and committees and GA meetings was as follows:

• 19^th February 2017: Second meeting of the ARAC MLA Group,
• 19^th February 2017: ARAC Experienced Peer Evaluators workshop,
• 20^th February 2017: Executive Committee Strategy Session,
• 20^th February 2017: ARAC Peer Evaluators Working Group meeting,
• 21^st February 2017: ARAC Technical Committee meeting,
• 21^st February 2017: ARAC MLA Committee meeting,
• 21^st February 2017: ARAC Communication and Marketing Committee meeting,
• 21^st February 2017: ARAC Task Force Group meeting on the registration of ARAC as legal entity in Tunisia,
• 22^nd February 2017: ARAC Executive Committee meeting,
• 23^rd February 2017: ARAC General Assembly meeting.

The above meetings were witnessed by the ILAC&IAF Regional Peer evaluators within the framework of the ILAC&IAF evaluation of ARAC.

More than 70 participants from the Arab Accreditation Bodies took part in these meetings. It was also pleasing to welcome delegates from accreditation bodies from other regions as well as the Chair of Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation [APLAC], the General Director Advisor of the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization [AIDMO], the representatives of the League of Arab States [LAS] and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization [UNIDO] and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency [Sida].

In addition, ARAC was honored by the presence and the statement made by the General Director of the Municipality of Dubai during the opening session of the General Assembly meeting on 23^rd February 2017.

Significant achievements were made at these meetings mainly the following:

• Successful witnessing of the ARAC MLA decision making committee meeting by ILAC&IAF Peer evaluators,
• There has been a substantial growth in the ARAC MLA signatories, new members have joined and extended their MLA:
  • The ARAC Jordanian Accreditation System JAS became ARAC MLA Signatory in the following fields:
    • Accreditation of Calibration laboratories according to ISO/IEC 17025,
    • Accreditation of Testing Laboratories according to ISO/IEC 17025,
    • Accreditation of Medical/Clinical Laboratories according to ISO 15189.
  • The Dubai Accreditation Center DAC became ARAC MLA Signatory in the field of Accreditation of Product Certification Bodies according to ISO/IEC 17065
• Preparation of the ARAC Strategy 2016-2021 implementation plan,
• Preparation for the upcoming steps of the ILAC&IAF Peer evaluations,
• Start the establishment of ARAC Action plan to prepare for the new publication of the new version of the standard ISO/IEC 17011:2017,
• A great number of resolutions have been adopted by the General Assembly members, the most outstanding of which are:
  • Approval of the ARAC new procedure ARAC PR 030 on conducting the joint peer evaluations with the other regional Cooperation Bodies,
  • Adoption of the ILAC & IAF Resolutions applicable for the ARAC Peer evaluation process,
  • Implementation of the ARAC Strategy 2016-2021.

Finally, it was agreed to organize the upcoming ARAC Mid-Term meetings during the period 24-26 July 2017 in Tunis, Tunisia.