The 8^th Annual Meeting of the Indo-German Working Group on Quality Infrastructure, led by the Indian Ministry for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy was held virtually here today.

The Working Group meets annually since 2013, and identifies areas of cooperation to support and strengthen quality infrastructure in country taking into account needs and requirements of relevant stakeholders from diverse technology areas so as to support bilateral trade.

Shri Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs said that Germany is as an important and trusted partner for India. He underscored the importance of a well-established and robust quality infrastructure which consists standardization, technical regulations and market surveillances for the success of the Government of India initiative to transform India into a Global manufacturing hub. He expressed hope that the Work Plan 2022 signed virtually during the meeting would pave the way forward for collaboration towards well-functioning and resilient systems of quality infrastructures. He urged involvement of all the relevant stakeholders such as different ministries, standardization bodies and Industry to learn from each other’s approaches on different aspects of quality infrastructure.

Dr. Deniela Bronstrup, Director General, Digital and Innovation Policy at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), the co-chair from the German delegation, welcomed the Indian delegates to the virtual meeting and noted that despite of challenging period both sides continued cooperation under the framework of the Working Group. This is a great sign of strong relations between Germany and India and that both sides can draw benefits from exchange of information and expertise on issues of mutual interest to support bilateral trade. 

The German side shared their initiatives at International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and requested support for the German candidate for the position of Director Standards at ITU.

A publication on “United in Quality and Safety” was released providing information about the quality infrastructure in Germany and the European Union and expressed that publication will be of great help to policymakers and trade partners in India to understand Quality Infrastructure regime in Europe and in Germany.

Outcome of the Global Quality Infrastructure Index (GQII) study conducted by the German side was also shared. As per the GQII report, India is placed at 7th position on standardization aspect, 9th for Accreditation activities and 19th for the Metrology related activities. India scored 95.6 out of 100 and is ranked at 10th place in the world for overall quality infrastructure environment in the country.

This was followed by a panel discussion on “digitalization and sustainability: key factors for an effective and modern Quality Infrastructure” and a session on “Focus areas for cooperation within the Indo-German Working Group in 2022”.

In the Panel discussion, the experts discussed on the relevance of Quality Infrastructure for digital and green transformation, its effects on the QI and how QI can support the industry especially SMEs. The experts emphasised need of a common understanding on these issues and benefits that could be drawn from the Indo-German Cooperation.

A Work Plan for the Year 2022 was agreed upon and signed by both sides which include collaboration in mobility, energy, circular economy, smart farming/ agriculture, medical devices, digitalization (AI, Industry 4.0 and other new technology areas), machinery safety, medical devices and equipment and market surveillance.

The meeting was joined over 150 German and Indian stakeholders including Indian ministries (DPIIT, MoP, MoRTH, DCPC, CPRI), industry associations (FICCI,CII, VDMA, VDA), standardization ad accreditation bodies (BIS, DIN, DKE, NABCB, DAkkS) and Indo-German Chamber of Commerce.

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DJN/AM/NS