Bengaluru: During the meeting of the heads of National Standards Bodies (NSBs) held in Bengaluru under India’s BRICS presidency, BRICS member nations agreed on a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the field of standardization.
Representatives from most BRICS nations signed the MoU. Its objective is to develop high-quality infrastructure, reduce technical barriers to trade, enhance consumer protection, and strengthen cooperation in international standardization. The remaining member countries stated that they would sign the agreement after completing their respective national approval processes.
Addressing the meeting, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi stated that India supports an inclusive and consensus-based approach to developing global standards and reiterated the country’s commitment to strengthening international cooperation through the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
Nidhi Khare, Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs, stated that mutual cooperation among BRICS nations would foster trade, technological advancement, and sustainable development, while Sanjay Garg, Director General of BIS, emphasized the importance of knowledge sharing to strengthen national standardization systems.
The meeting will conclude on July 17 with a thematic workshop on Artificial Intelligence (AI) standardization. Experts from BIS (India), GOST R (Russia), SAC (China), ABNT (Brazil), and MoIAT-SAS (UAE) will discuss emerging AI standards, followed by a dialogue among BRICS national standards bodies regarding future priorities and opportunities for technical cooperation.
(PIB)
