The ministry organised on Monday 31st of October 2016, at the Superior School of Textile and Clothing Industries in Casablanca, the launching day for the 20th edition of the National Quality Week, in partnership with the Moroccan Union for Quality “UMAQ”.

Organised in preparation of the COP 22, this year’s edition will focus on the theme “Quality at the service of sustainable development” with the aim of encouraging companies to consider their competitiveness through an integrated quality approach linking up environmental, economic and social aspects.

This dynamic and inclusive approach enables companies to achieve sustainable performances by efficiently meeting the requirements of customers and stakeholders in keeping with natural resources and environmental restrictions.

In fact, the quality approach, transversal and based on progress and leadership, is a powerful potential lever for a shared social and economic development, enabling it to build and sustain a better future. Quality is thus sought at the level of products and services, dialogue with all stakeholders, employees’ health, aspects related to the respect for the environment, hospitality...

In order to help businesses move in this direction, the Department has adopted an approach combining the improvement of companies’ technical environment and raising the awareness of business leaders to encourage inclusive management based on generic standards with respect for the environment, promotion of health and safety in the workplace, sustainable procurement…

Sustainable development, a priority for the Ministry

The Ministry of Industry, Trade, Investment and the Digital Economy pays special attention to sustainable development. Its principles are integral part of its various sectoral strategies.

The goal is to reconcile the environmental requirements and the need to build a strong and sustainable economy, source of new business, innovation, competitiveness and jobs. In fact, it is about responding equitably to the legitimate expectations of citizens and business and the environment.

This is illustrated by the approach of the ecosystems that support the integration of industrial sectors and optimization of local sourcing in order to establish a solid foundation for the growth of economic competitiveness and to enable Morocco to become a strong and sustainable industrial platform.

In the same vein, and to achieve the balance between environmental preservation and economic growth, the Ministry launched last March, an ecosystem dedicated to building materials whose structuring was accompanied by strategic measures setting the Kingdom on the path of sustainable development and green growth, particularly through the upgrading of industrial and household waste.

Another structuring project initiated as part of the national project of preservation of the environment, is the commitment to ban the production and use of plastic bags.

Quality week, activities on both national and regional levels

As in previous years, meetings and seminars will be held during the quality week until November 4, 2016, in different cities of the Kingdom, organised by the delegations of the Ministry of Industry, Trade, Investment and the Digital Economy, in collaboration with local partners.

These meetings will help to understand and illustrate, through presentations and testimonials, the quality links with the pillars of sustainable development, by reflecting at the same time its normative and regulatory aspects. Such conferences will thus be a prerequisite for the discussions that will be pursued in the context of the COP22 and will inspire the companies, on the regional level, to take part in the ambition of the Kingdom to be an emerging nation at the forefront of environmental solutions.