G20: Recover together, recover stronger with international standards
By ITU News
The leading international standards bodies — the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) — have urged world leaders to recognize, support, and adopt international standards to meet G20 “Recover together, recover stronger” post-pandemic goals.
The three global standards bodies issued a joint declaration during the G20 International Standards Summit in Bali, Indonesia, hosted by the National Standardization Agency of Indonesia (BSN) with the participation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Standardization representatives from the G20 countries endorsed the declaration.
“By referencing consensus-based international standards in their policies, world leaders achieve the priority issues goals of this G20 meeting, as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” said IEC Secretary-General Philippe Metzger. “International Standards transform policy objectives into actionable outcomes.”
The three main pillars of this year’s ongoing G20 meetings are global health architecture, digital transformation, and sustainable energy transition. The IEC-ISO-ITU declaration underlines how international standards and conformity assessments can contribute to building a greener and more sustainable future. The declaration notes that the three organizations provide an institutional framework enhanced by broad participation from across society.
“International standards are instruments that enable the development of a harmonious, stable and globally recognized framework for the deployment and use of new technologies,” said ISO Secretary-General Sergio Mujica.
Chaesub Lee, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, added: “International standards are vital to global trade and economic development. Given life by collaboration and consensus, standards can help us ensure that digital transformation benefits everyone, everywhere.”
Standardizing post-pandemic recovery
Standards and conformity assessments can help the world to recover from setbacks like the COVID-19 pandemic in a sustainable way.
“In the last two years, the global pandemic has affected every aspect of people’s lives, from health, education, to international trade,” said BSN Chairman Kukuh S. Achmad. “The process of handling the global pandemic cannot be separated from the support of international standards.”
At the G20-hosted side event, standardization experts from around the world explained the correlation of international standards with priority issues under Indonesia’s current G20 presidency and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, and WTO Deputy Director General Jean-Marie Paugam also took part in the discussion.
G20 members are responsible for 80 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product and 75 per cent of global trade. G20 countries also host 60 per cent of the world’s population.
The G20 Forum fosters strategic cooperation to build a greener and sustainable future. Indonesia took over the G20 presidency from Italy on 1 December 2021.
This year’s G20 Leaders’ Summit will take place in Bali, 15-16 November.
Indonesia’s presidency of the group will culminate with the Bali Summit, followed by the handover of the presidency to India on 1 December 2022.
Discussion recordings are available on the event website:
G20 – 20 October 2022 – WSC (worldstandardscooperation.org)
Image credit: iuneWind via Adobe Stock
