Qingdao forum surveys standardization development

China is calling for more global collaboration in the establishment of international standardization, to further contribute to global sustainable development, a top official said on Wednesday.

"We should work on combined efforts of sharing standardization, technological progress and experience as well as the establishment of an international standardization system for greener development to meet the goals of the United Nation's 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda," Zhang Gong, head of the State Administration for Market Regulation, said while addressing the 2021 Qingdao Forum on International Standardization held in Qingdao, Shandong province.

"We should also share the fruits of standardization development, especially in the areas of food safety, pharmaceuticals and agricultural products, artificial intelligence, digitalized economy as well as climate change, achieving a higher level of global happiness, health and security," Zhang added.

The Qingdao forum was jointly sponsored by the Shandong provincial government and the SAMR and supported by the International Electrotechnical Commission, International Organization for Standardization, International Telecommunication Union, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other international organizations.

As China has been a leading country in developing domestic standardization in the past decades, the country's economic and sustainable development are perfectly aligned with the forum's theme, "Standards for Sustainable Development Goals".

In the past decades, there were 5,100 corporate groups that established more than 26,500 team standards, according to the minister.

More than 320,000 enterprises announced 190,000 newly implemented standards, reinforcing the significance of quality improvement and development.

Standardization work has been prioritized on the protection of environment by promoting new, sustainable energy sources.

Official statistics show energy consumption quota standards have been introduced to save more than 77 million metric tons of coal annually in energy-intensive areas such as the steel and chemical industries, meaning an annual reduction of 148 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

New industrial standards aiming to alleviate poverty were also established. Moreover, standardization also supports the global fight against the pandemic. China has helped domestic companies export more than 280 billion masks, more than 3.4 billion pieces of protective gear and more than 4 billion testing kits by helping enterprises manufacture products according to international standards.