Standard System Transfer to Five Central Asian Countries Including Kazakhstan

KATS Holds 'Next-Generation Leader Standard Education'

On June 29, the Korea Foundation (KF) Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum Secretariat signed an online business agreement to establish an economic consultative body with five Central Asian countries, followed by a commemorative photo session. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The National Institute of Technology and Standards under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that it will hold the "Central Asia Next-Generation Leader Standards Education" for two days starting from the 3rd, in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum of the Korea Foundation (KF).

As part of the New Northern Policy, the program will transfer South Korea's standards, certification, technical regulations, and conformity assessment systems to the five Central Asian countries.

The education program will be attended by 15 next-generation leaders in the standards field, including government officials from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

This is the second year that standards system transfer education has been conducted for the five Central Asian countries. Last year, the National Institute of Technology and Standards invited experts from the five countries to South Korea for standards education, and following continuous requests for education from these countries, it was regularized.

This year, due to the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the event will be conducted as a non-face-to-face webinar instead of an invitation event.

Based on a prior survey on each country's policy issues and participants' areas of interest, the program was designed to be participant-centered.

This time, the scope of education was expanded to include product safety testing systems (product safety and conformity assessment), procedures for responding to trade technical barriers, and consortium operation (technical regulation response).

This is because participants showed high interest not only in standards policy but also in product safety testing and domestic and international technical regulation responses.

The National Institute of Technology and Standards stated that through this education, South Korea has strengthened its cooperative relationship with Central Asian countries, which are part of the New Northern Policy, and has laid the groundwork to resolve difficulties faced by domestic export companies due to technical regulations in Central Asian countries in the long term.

The five Central Asian countries have shown strong interest in the standardization of textile products and the quality and safety management systems of industrial products including electronic devices, so it is expected that continuous cooperation and mutual benefit creation with South Korea will be possible in these areas.

South Korea, as a board member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and a policy advisory member of the Developing Countries Committee (DEVCO), is strengthening standards cooperation through invitation education and joint seminars for standards leaders not only in Central Asia but also in ASEAN, Africa, and the Middle East regions.

Lee Sang-hoon, Director of the Standards Policy Bureau at the National Institute of Technology and Standards, said, "We will continue to create opportunities for exchange with the five Central Asian countries to further activate bilateral international standardization cooperation," and added, "We will develop this into a channel to resolve technical regulation difficulties faced by our companies due to local standards and certification in Central Asia."