Qingdao Mayor Meng Fanli delivers a speech at the 2017 Qingdao Forum on International Standardization on June 28. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In his speech, Qingdao Mayor Meng Fanli said that Qingdao is an important city in China's coastal region that had a 2016 annual GDP of 1 trillion yuan ($144.9 billion). The city is home to a number of world famous brands such as Tsingtao Beer, Haier, Hisense and CRRC.

Qingdao was the first Chinese city to put forward standardization proposals, encouraging its companies to apply their independent technology as industrial standards. The city undertakes the responsibilities of the secretariats of 25 international and national special standardization technical organizations, and has led or participated in the preparation and revision of over 80 international standards, over 800 national standards and over 900 industrial standards. Standardization construction helps to boost the city's economy, and culture as well as the livelihoods of its residents.

Meng hoped that the forum would offer an opportunity for governments, enterprises and other stakeholders to conduct in-depth discussions related to international standardization and social, economic and environmental development.

The International Standardization Training Base (Qingdao), jointly built by the ISO, the SAC and the Qingdao municipal government, was inaugurated during the forum.

The International Standardization Training Base (Qingdao) is officially unveiled at the 2017 Qingdao Forum on International Standardization on June 28. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Under the guidance of China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the Standardization Administration of China and the Shandong provincial government, the three-day forum was organized by the Qingdao municipal government.

Six sub-forums are scheduled during the event, as follows: Voluntary Sustainable Standards Workshop; Advanced Standards Leading the Development of Intelligent Manufacturing; Equipment and Technical Innovation Development of High Speed Railways Promoted by Standards; International Standards Support Sustainable Development of Cities; International Forum on Ships and Marine Standardization & Industrial Development; and International Standardization Talent Cultivation and Education.

The six sub-forums are co-organized by institutions and enterprises including the China Association for Standardization, the Haier Group Corporation, CRRC, Qingdao Sifang Co Ltd, the China National Institute of Standardization, the Shipbuilding Information Center of China and Qingdao University.

The QFS is designed as a regular international conference to discuss and coordinate hotspot issues related to international standardization and social, economic and environmental development. It aims to encourage dialog on international standardization, generate opportunities for cooperation among international, regional and national standardization organizations and promote standardization development.