OREANDA-NEWS. September 17, 2014. Held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the 37th General Assembly of the International Organization for Standardization brought together representatives of more than 160 countries.

Kazakhstan was represented by a delegation of the Committee for Technical Regulation and Metrology of the Ministry of Investment and Development headed by the Committee Chairman Birzhan Kaneshev.

The motto of the World Standards Day 2014: "Standards level the playing field". In his opening address, ISO President Terry Hill, emphasized importance of standardization as the main tool to promote development and adoption of new technologies and improve the quality of products and services.

Experts from Kazakhstan took part in following working sessions: "Build the capacity of members on standardization and related matters", "Standards and Regulation", "If the future generation will change ISO, how do you see it?", etc.

The meetings resulted in several scenarios to address the existing problems, where practical suggestions of the participants were considered.

In addition to the General Assembly meetings, there was held a meeting of the Chairman of the Committee for Technical Regulation and Metrology B.Kaneshev with ISO Secretary-General Rob Steele, where the Roadmap for future joint action for implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding in the field of training of the Committee technical experts and specialists was discussed and signed.

Another significant event for Kazakhstan in the framework of this event was discussion of the issue of standardization and certification of the tourism sector in Kazakhstan based on the experience of Spain with the General Director of the Association for Standardization and Certification of Spain. The negotiations resulted in an agreement on joint work of experts from both countries to exchange experiences.

Also, the project on use of European standards and placing them on e-Trans platform, developed by CEN and CENELEC, granting access to their members and partner agencies was discussed during the visit with the Director General of the European Committee for Standardization Elena Santiago.

Considering that this year the Republic of Kazakhstan has been recognized as a full partner body of CEN and CENELEC, being the first country to obtain the partner standardization body status of CENELEC and the fourth country of CEN. Moreover, Kazakhstan potential in the field of international standardization is becoming obvious during 20 years of the country’s activity as a full ISO member, and there was the ISO Forum of Executive Directors of national standards bodies for Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe co-organized with the International Organization for Standardization.

In general, participation of Kazakh delegation in the 37th ISO General Assembly is important in terms of harmonization of national technology policy with the latest trends in the use of standardization tool to improve the quality and competitiveness of products, protect life and the environment, for sustainable use of natural resources and modern innovation technology.