Qingdao forum promotes cooperation to achieve sustainable development goals

Standardization is key to improving global governance and it requires countries' joint efforts to use it to promote better sustainable development around the world, according to officials and experts who attended the 2021 Qingdao Forum on International Standardization in Qingdao, Shandong province, on July 28.

"China has been attaching great importance to the standardization of sustainable development," Zhang Gong, head of the State Administration for Market Regulation, said at the forum.

The country has utilized standards to promote businesses, protect the environment, help poverty alleviation, achieve prosperity, optimize public service and contribute to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Zhang said.

"We should work on combined efforts to share 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 Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Zhang said.

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

Themed on the Standards for Sustainable Development Goals, this year, the Qingdao forum attracted about 300 officials, experts and businesspeople from home and abroad to discuss standardization-related topics including the sustainable development of modern agriculture, the digital transformation of city governance, talent cultivation and industrial internet and low-carbon transformation.

Eddy Njoroge, president of the International Organization for Standardization, said via video link, "International standards are a key ingredient and catalyst for achieving the SDGs in a multitude of ways."

Standards provide guidance to all types of organizations, irrespective of their size, scope, or geographical location when implementing, integrating and promoting socially responsible behavior throughout the organization and through its policies and practices, within their wider spheres of influence, Njoroge said.

"At ISO, we acknowledge this challenge and that is why in our new ISO Strategy 2030, we have taken note of and identified the environment and the urgency for sustainability as one of the key drivers of change that is essential to defining our priorities," he said.

According to Njoroge, ISO has taken steps to align its 2030 time frame to that of the UN's ambitious global agenda.

"As the world's best-known developer of international standards, we have continued to take practical steps toward the realization of sustainable development goals.

"These steps include embedding sustainability issues in the standards development processes," he said.

Chaesub Lee, director of the International Telecommunication Union's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, said the SDGs call for global action that can be reinforced by working together on international standardization.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical importance of our digital infrastructure and the need for severe improvements of ICT (information and communications technology) services and applications," Lee said.

But unfortunately, infrastructures haven't reached everywhere. And services and applications are still too difficult for everyone, such as aged people and the people who need special assistance, he added.

ITU standards currently support the digital transformation from energy and transportation to healthcare, financial services, education, agriculture and smart cities with inclusive standardization processes helping people to move forward together, Lee noted.

"So we continue working to bridge the so-called standardization gap to ensure that all countries share in the benefits," he said.

As a major participant in the global economy, China has been developing-its domestic standards over the years.

Zhang Gang, deputy director of the China standardization expert committee, said the digital era has brought rigid needs for the transformation-of standard digitalization.

Standard digitalization will play a role in leading innovation in manufacturing, boosting businesses and supporting the development of smart agriculture, Zhang said.

"The updating of knowledge and technology will be the core competitiveness of future industry, and new standardization driven by digitalization will play a big role in performance," he said.

"The reform of standard digitalization requires a whole plan and systematic promotion, which will contribute to socioeconomic and sustainable development," he added-.

The Qingdao forum was sponsored by the Shandong provincial government and the State Administration for Market Regulation, and supported by the International Electrotechnical Commission, ISO, ITU, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other international organizations.