Deepen standard cooperation to promote BRICS trade

Economic and trade cooperation is one of the important pillars of BRICS cooperation. Currently, emerging market countries and developing countries represented by BRICS are rising collectively, fundamentally changing the world economic landscape. The influence and attractiveness of the expanded BRICS countries are further expanding, and the economic and trade exchanges between member countries are gradually deepening. The space for promoting high-quality and sustainable development is becoming wider and the potential for cooperation is further expanding. Among them, standard cooperation is an important part of promoting economic and trade exchanges among countries. "At the BRICS Economic and Trade Activity Forum held by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade on October 28th, Zhang Shaogang, Vice President of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that international standards, as the" universal language "and common rules of the world, can effectively eliminate trade barriers, promote trade facilitation and standardization. The sentence is:, It is the foundation of foreign trade and economic cooperation.

Focusing on the development of trade and standard cooperation among BRICS countries, using "small incisions" to assist BRICS countries in "soft connectivity", expanding cooperation opportunities in multiple fields and at all levels, is an important means to enhance the security and stability of industrial and supply chains, effectively strengthen BRICS economic and trade ties, and promote coordinated development among countries.

Zhang Shaogang pointed out that we should better leverage the role of standards as an accelerator for high-quality trade development, strengthen the coordination and linkage between government, industry, academia, and research, do a good job in top-level design and forward-looking layout, effectively connect with key areas and new formats of foreign trade, strengthen the research and supply of service standards, build a mutually beneficial and win-win standardization cooperation partnership, and achieve high-quality and sustainable development of trade and investment in BRICS countries.

BRICS cooperation, standards come first. Yu Xubo, Chairman of China General Technology (Group) Holding Co., Ltd., stated that standards, as the "universal language" of the world and the technological link for coordinating the economic development of BRICS countries, are an important bridge for deepening trade cooperation and strengthening cultural exchanges among BRICS countries. They are also an important means to promote innovative development of trade technology and fair competition in trade. They not only help enhance the voice of BRICS countries in global economic governance, but also create more opportunities, tap greater potential, enhance more connections, and promote common prosperity and development for economic and trade cooperation among BRICS countries.

Khalid Soufi, the President elect of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and CEO of the Egyptian National Standards Organization (EOS), stated that the establishment of standards can promote economic prosperity, create employment opportunities, and improve people's living standards. The objects of trade include not only goods, but also services and innovative technologies. BRICS members need to unite and cooperate to better formulate standards. While achieving smooth trade, promote safer, more inclusive, balanced, and sustainable development.

This year marks the beginning of the 'Greater BRICS Cooperation'. After expansion, the gross domestic product of BRICS countries accounts for about 30% of the world's total, their population accounts for nearly half of the world's population, and their trade accounts for one-fifth of global trade. BRICS has become more abundant, substantial, and has greater potential.

Implementing the BRICS spirit of openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation, fully leveraging the fundamental role of standardization in technology exchange, production capacity cooperation, and economic and trade exchanges among BRICS countries, is of great significance for improving the quality and upgrading of BRICS cooperation, and creating a new situation of high-quality development of 'Greater BRICS Cooperation'. It will also effectively help BRICS countries welcome a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, and integrate into the global trend of green and low-carbon transformation. "Fu Wenbiao, a first level inspector of the Standards and Innovation Management Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, put forward suggestions to promote BRICS standardization cooperation: first, deepen traditional cooperation and consolidate the foundation of cooperation; Secondly, we must persist in exploring and innovating, and expand the space for cooperation; The third is to promote joint construction and sharing, and achieve win-win cooperation.

In recent years, with the acceleration of green and digital transformation in the construction industry, the importance of building a standardized system for the industry has become increasingly prominent. Minister of the South African Embassy in China, Ba Shidi, stated that building an international standardization cooperation platform and improving communication and cooperation mechanisms will help to jointly address global challenges, deeply integrate standardization work with international rules, and assist the industry in reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and promoting high-quality development.

Gudkov Nikolai, Chief Representative of the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry in East Asia, believes that the mutual recognition of standard laboratory test results and certificates, as well as the implementation of unified and coordinated work, require significant resource investment and active participation from various countries. This is a difficult and complex task, but it is extremely important for ensuring international trade security and efficiency. With the increasing frequency of trade interactions between countries, we need to develop more effective tools and further deepen standard cooperation to promote global trade cooperation and development

At the forum, attendees expressed that BRICS countries should innovate the working mode and path of international standardization in the field of trade, increase cooperation in the development of trade standards, establish a new system of trade standards, promote relevant trade standards, accelerate the implementation and application of standards, and establish a mechanism for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of standard implementation in response to the actual needs of the trade sector. During the forum, outcome documents such as the "International Sustainability Standards Alliance (ISEAL) Good Practices for Sustainable Systems" were also released. (Economic Daily reporter Zhu Lin)