ISO AM 2024 Annual Meeting in Cartagena, Colombia: Breaking boundaries
Post date: Tuesday, Sep 17, 2024 | 11:29 - View count: 669
The ISO AM 2024 Annual Meeting (ISO AM)- the largest annual event of the year of The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) took place successfully from 9-13 September 2024 in Cartagena, Colombia, focusing on global cooperation, sustainable development and inclusiveness in international standardization. The theme of ISO AM 2024 “Breaking Boundaries” reflects the need to overcome challenges that transcend boundaries such as climate change, biodiversity loss and technological advancement.
This year’s opening ceremony featured distinguished speakers, including Luis Carlos Reyes Hernandez, Colombian Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Hector Arango, President of the Colombian Standardization Agency (ICONTEC), and ISO principals. The theme of “Breaking Boundaries” was woven throughout this year’s annual meeting agenda. It reminded us to challenge conventions and tap into diverse perspectives to create lasting and transformative change. Through this lens, ISO AM 2024 focused on the key topics of sustainability, AI and human resources as ISO seeks to remain a people-centered organization, particularly the involvement of young people in its standardization activities.
The Vietnamese delegation led by Dr. Ha Minh Hiep – Acting Director-General of the Commission for the Standards, Metrology and Quality of Viet Nam (STAMEQ) actively participated in major ISO meetings such as the 58th ISO/DEVCO Plenary Meeting, the 46th ISO General Assembly as well as the side meetings of ISO AM 2024.
The Vietnamese delegation led by Dr. Ha Minh Hiep – Acting Director-General of the Commission for the Standards, Metrology and Quality of Viet Nam attended the ISO AM 2024 in Colombia.
ISO AM 2024 also continues to mark the Vietnamese delegation’s participation in ISO AM 2024 when the Vietnamese representatives were invited by ISO to attend as a facilitator on a number of topics discussed among ISO members such as: Societal impact of Standards, challenges of the young generation in participating in standardization work in the future. Notably, this is the first time the Head of the Vietnamese delegation received an invitation from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a panelist alongside ones from ISO and IEC with the discussion topic: partnership for sustainable development.
Speakers attending the conference come from the following organizations (from right to left): ICONTEC, IEC, ISO, UNIDO, STAMEQ, BSN (Indonesia)
At the discussion, Dr. Ha Minh Hiep shared about Vietnam’s NQI and affirmed that global cooperation is the core for sustainable development, promoting trust through Quality and standards.
In addition, the Vietnamese delegation also took the opportunity to proactively meet bilaterally with a number of close partners of the Committee such as the Standards Australia (SA), the Kenyan Standardization Agency (KEBS), the Chinese Standardization Agency (SAC ), the Canadian Standards Council (SCC), etc. to strengthen the cooperative relationship between STAMEQ – presenting as the National Standardization Agency of Vietnam and other National Standardization Agencies within the framework of ISO membership in the fields of standards development, measurement, conformity assessment, standards training, etc.
STAMEQ-KEBS
STAMEQ – SA
STAMEQ – SAC
STAMEQ – SCC
Also during the ISO AM 2024 week, STAMEQ had a bilateral meeting with ASTM (USA) within the framework of signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two organizations since 2009. During the meeting, the Vietnamese delegation was honored by ASTM as a 20-year MoU partner within the global cooperation framework of this organization.
Head of the Vietnamese delegation – Dr. Ha Minh Hiep received a commemorative medal marking 20 years of partnership with ASTM (USA) presented by ASTM Vice President – Ms. Teresa
In addition, on the occasion of ISO AM 2024, an event attended by nearly 170 representatives of ISO member countries, STAMEQ also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Kazakhstan Institute of Standardization and Metrology (KazStandard) in the field of standards, metrology and quality and signed an extension of the MoU with the British Standards Institution (BSI) since the first signing in 2019.
Representatives of STAMEQ and KazStandard signed the MoU between the two organizations on September 10, 2024
Representatives of STAMEQ and BSI signed an extension of the MoU between the two organizations on September 12, 2024 to strengthen cooperation in a number of new areas such as climate change, energy transition, circular economy, emerging technologies, etc.
At the 46th ISO GA General Assembly, the new ISO President for the term 2026 – 2028 was announced, Mr. Khaled Soufi, President of the Egyptian Standardization Organization (EOS). Mr. Khaled will take over the position from his predecessor – Dr. Sung Hwan Cho from 2026.
The Vietnamese delegation took a commemorative photo with the new ISO President for the 2026-2028 term (standing in the middle from left to right)
Ngoc Minh – The International Cooperation Department
