Minister of Economy Goran Knežević and his associates visited ATS

During the first week (September 25th-29th) of the peer evaluation by the expert team of the European Cooperation for Accreditation (EA), on Wednesday, September 27th 2017, ATS was visited by Minister of Economy Goran Knežević and his associates Aleksandar Starčević, Assistant Minister for the Sector for Quality and Product Safety, Radoje Savićević, Secretary of the Ministry of Economy and Miodrag Dugandžija, Head of the Department for Non-Harmonized Technical Regulations, Notification and Registers, in order to express, on behalf of the Government of Serbia and the Ministry of Economy, as well as on his own behalf, his appreciation of the activities of ATS management and employees in the process of revitalization, which has been implemented in the last 20 months, and especially for the successfully implemented plan in terms of preparation for the EA assessment.

On that occasion, the Minister expressed his support to ATS in the said assessment on behalf of the Ministry of Economy and the Government of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the Ministry's willingness to assist ATS, within the framework of its competence, in expanding awareness of the importance of accreditation, as well as continuing promotion of accreditation with relevant state bodies, taking into account that accreditation is one of the most desirable means of proving competence.

Prof. Aco Janićijević, PhD, ATS Acting Director, thanked the minister for the bestowed honour and recognition of the achieved results in the past year. During the conversation with Minister Knežević and his team, the ATS management and ATS Acting Director Prof. Aco Janićijević, PhD, proposed a programme of activities related to the new concept of better cooperation with both clients (CABs) and other economic entities of the Republic of Serbia. It was also proposed that a new quality in cooperation between ATS and the Ministry be defined in a Protocol on comprehensive cooperation, which would be an exemplary model of ATS cooperation with other ministries as it is evident that there is a great need for this model of cooperation. Both sides emphasised that in the process of accession to the European Union, ATS also contributes significantly by means of maintening already signed multilateral agreements with the EA, thus achieving a prerequisite for the accession of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union through active participation in the negotiating group for Chapter 1- free movement of goods.

Minister of Economy Goran Knežević, ATS Acting Director, Prof. Aco Janićijević, PhD, and Emanuele Riva (Accredia), the leader of the EA  peer assessment team

Meeting of Minister of Economy Goran Knežević and his associates with  ATS Acting Director, Prof. Aco Janićijević, PhD, and ATS management and Mr  Emanuele Riva, the leader of the EA  peer assessment team