The 2021 Qingdao Forum on International Standardization will be held in Qingdao, Shandong province from July 27 to 28, Shandong officials announced at a recent news conference.

John Walter, president of the International Organization for Standardization, delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 2019 Qingdao Forum on International Standardization. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Standards are the passport for global economic and trade cooperation as they have become the most important technical basis and market rules for foreign trade and industrial cooperation by establishing a common order, forming a generally accepted technical basis for implementation, as well as greatly reducing production and transaction costs, according to industry insiders.

With the deepening of economic globalization, standardization is playing a more fundamental, strategic, and leading role in facilitating economic and trade exchanges, supporting industrial development, promoting scientific and technological progress, as well as standardizing social governance, said Shandong officials.

International standards are an important technology carrier connecting international and domestic dual circulation. They are a bridge to promote the export of products, technologies, services, and modes, as well as an important technological foundation for the development of global governance systems and economic and trade cooperation. They will play an even more important role in building a new development pattern and gaining a broader development space, said Shandong authorities.

The Qingdao Forum on International Standardization, which has been previously held in 2017 and in 2019, has established a high-end platform for dialogue on international standardization, generating cooperation opportunities among international, regional, and national standardization organizations, as well as promoting the development of standardization.

This year's forum has the theme of "standards and sustainable development" and will consist of one theme conference, four sub-forms, as well as a series of supporting activities.

Around 300 guests, including leaders of the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Standardization Administration and other ministries and commissions, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, experts and scholars of well-known domestic research institutions and universities, as well as top officials from international standardization organizations like ISO, IEC, and ITU, will attend the forum, which will be held in both online and offline venues.