The formal opening of the Qatar chapter of the acclaimed American Society of Quality (ASQ) was held recently at a meeting at Doha Marriot Hotel. The ASQ, which is the world’s largest quality organisation is now in its 63rd year of operation and has more than 100,000 registered members from about 150 countries. According to officials, the ASQ Local Member Community (LMC) is a non-profit organisation that has been able to achieve many of its goals in the last few months. The inaugural ceremony of the local chapter was attended by more than 100 Qatari and other leaders from a wide variety of industries, academia, and quality professionals. Quality manager at Qatar Petroleum Khalid Salah formally opened the local chapter. At the inauguration, Salah said Qatar Minister of Energy and Industry HE Dr Mohamed Saleh al-Sada had highlighted the corporate social responsibility goals of the Qatar Petroleum at regular intervals and has also recalled the necessity of quality orientation in the activities of the country’s petroleum sector. “In line with Dr al-Sada’s directives, Qatar Petroleum has assisted in the establishment of various organisations in Qatar and abroad, including ASQ’s Qatar Chapter,” said Salah. ASQ Global Member Development Manager Tiffany Jackson came from the USA to attend the inauguration of the Qatar chapter. On completion of its main objectives of defining the community’s governance plan, short and medium-term business plans, and selecting the group’s officers, Qatar LMC was formally approved by the ASQ in April this year. The local chapter has established a database of members and top 100 companies within 10 of the country’s core sectors. Before the inauguration of the local chapter, its officials held an event in June, covering such topics as information security and business continuity management systems. The next event is planned for December 11 and the topic of discussion would be Risk Management (ISO 31000). At the inaugural meeting, the local chapter officials said entrance to the Doha chapter of ASQ would be free and they have also made an appeal to the country’s students and other professionals to join the forum. Companies can also join the ASQ local chapter and their staffers would receive the benefits of full individual membership, it was announced. Qatargas, Qtel, and Qatar Quality Plus are currently the institutional members of the ASQ local chapter. Officials of ASQ thanked British Standards Institute (BSI), which is the core platinum sponsor of its activities, and Qatar Quality Plus and Quality Austria as bronze sponsors. The following are the office-bearers of the Qatar LMC: Honorary Chairman: Khaled Saleh (Qatar Petroleum), Chairman and country counsellor: Mohamed Helaly (Astad), Secretary: Efren Galabon (CEG), Treasurer: Ossama Ali (Rasgas), Events, Training, and certification: Mr. Peter Beck (Qatargas), Marketing and membership: S Akhter Ali (QP), and Communication Officer: Abdullah Elamadi - Ras Gas. Gulf Times

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