The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), will host the 26th Annual Meeting of the Global Harmonization Working Party (GHWP) for Medical Devices, and the scientific and technical working groups' meetings, between February 13 and 16 2023.

GHWP Chair and Executive Vice President of Medical Devices Sector at SFDA Eng. Ali Al-Dalaan said that the meeting is considered the largest global gathering of regulatory bodies, which consists of 33 oversight bodies for medical devices, such as the SFDA and its counterparts in the US, China, Japan, South Korea and the rest of the organization’s members, as well as a number of organizations affiliated with the GHWP.

Al-Dalaan stressed that the meeting is in line with the Kingdom's Vision 2030 to support, localize and attract development industries and modern technologies, including the medical technology industry, whose volume in the Kingdom's market in 2019 reached 18.9 billion riyals and is expected to reach 28.3 billion riyals in 2030, with an estimated growth of 50%. He pointed out that the meeting, and its various scientific and technical papers, are an opportunity to invite international companies to invest in the Kingdom's market, especially since the Kingdom has a system for tracking medical devices and supplies, which is compatible with international systems.

The scientific program of the 4-day meeting includes discussions of a number of important topics in the field of manufacturing and legislation of medical devices and supplies, regulatory developments in the field of digital health, artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, medical software, and cybersecurity in medical applications and medical biotechnology.

More than 70 leaders, experts and specialists from 33 countries are expected to speak at the meeting.