The Seventeenth Meeting of the SMIIC General Assembly (GA) was held in İstanbul, Republic of Türkiye on 22 November 2022. The meeting was attended by representatives from 30 SMIIC Member States and 3 Observer States as well as the representatives from the Republic of Azerbaijan and Republic of Tajikistanas the new SMIIC Member States, representatives of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), GCC Standardization Organization (GSO) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as observers. 

Following a recitation from the Holy Quran, H.E. Dr. Saad bin Othman AL-KASABI, Chairman of SMIIC Board of Directors (BOD), made an opening speech welcoming all SMIIC Members to the meeting in which he expressed the commitment of Saudi Arabia in promoting SMIIC activities and importance of standards and conformity assessment in reinforcing the competition in the industry as well as utilizing the resources of Member States for the success of the SMIIC Strategic Plan 2021-2030 and providing necessary support to the SMIIC organs and General Secretariat.

H.E. Mr. Mahmut Sami ŞAHİN, President of Turkish Standards Institution (TSE) and Vice-Chairman of SMIIC Board of Directors delivered his welcome remarks as the host country in which he underscored the significance of the adoption of OIC/SMIIC standards in unifying the efforts as well as improving trade relations by removing technical barriers to trade. By thanking the members of Task Force Group of SMIIC Accreditation Council for their contribution to the studies in determining the Designated Structure within OIC Global Halal Quality Infrastructure (OHAQ), he highlighted how essential accreditation is for the transparency and reliability of conformity assessment activities. 

Following the speeches/messages of the heads of the invited organizations, the message of H.E. Amb. Hissein Brahim TAHA, the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), was delivered by H.E. Mr. Naghi Jabbarov, Director General of the Department of Economic Affairs of the OIC. In his message, Member States and General Secretariat are invited to implement SMIIC’s Strategic Plan as well as other OIC programmes and resolutions aimed at achieving common developmental objectives as enshrined in the OIC Charter and OIC-2025: Programme of Action and commended valuable presentation of SMIIC on Islamic Tourism Standards made during the 11^th Session of the Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers (ICTM), held in Baku, June 2022. All national standards bodies of OIC Member States are also urged to conduct meaningful cooperation through creating unified OIC/SMIIC standards according to the needs.

H.E. Mr. Hasan BÜYÜKDEDE, Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology of Republic of Türkiye, delivered his speech through which His Excellency has stressed that Türkiye is willing to contribute to the effectiveness of the OIC countries in international trade and has adopted OIC/SMIIC standards and invited members to take joint actions in order to increase the competitiveness of our organizations in the international conformity assessment market and to plan capacity-building activities in the fields of standardization, metrology and accreditation, which are the components of the quality infrastructure.

During the working session, the Secretary General briefed the General Assembly on the latest developments and activities of SMIIC as well as summarizing the activities of SMIIC Councils, Technical Committees, Strategic Plan implementation and other important activities conducted since the 16^th SMIIC General Assembly Meeting. He also highlighted important issues that were discussed during the 23^rd and 24^th SMIIC Board of Directors Meetings.

Furthermore, technical activities of the Institute were reported by the Chairs of the SMIIC Councils. The General Assembly approved the report of external financial auditor and the SMIIC Budget 2023 as well as the Annual Mandatory Contribution of SMIIC Member States to 2023 SMIIC Budget.