The meeting discussed topical issues in standardization, the development of new standards, the exchange of best practices and the expansion of international cooperation.

A delegation of the Azerbaijan Institute of Standardization (AZSTAND), operating under the State Agency for Antimonopoly and Consumer Market Control under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, took part in the annual meeting of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in Paris, France.

Hosted by the French Standardization Association (AFNOR), the meeting comprised the 48th ISO General Assembly, the 60th plenary session of the ISO Committee on Developing Country Matters (DEVCO), the election of ISO Council members for the 2027–2029 term, and other events.

Within the DEVCO meeting, a panel session reviewed the outcomes of the ISO Action Plan for Developing Countries 2021–2025 (APDC4). Kamala Mammadzada, Acting Director General of AZSTAND, spoke at the session about the Institute’s active participation in APDC4 projects, the opportunities these projects created and the results achieved.

AZSTAND was also presented with an award in recognition of its active participation in ISO’s online training course “Fundamentals of Conformity Assessment and the CASCO Toolbox”.

Held under the theme “Building Trust in a Changing World”, the sessions highlighted the importance of developing and implementing standards in a number of topical areas, including cybersecurity, climate change, artificial intelligence, consumer safety in the digital environment, sustainable use of water resources, women’s representation in leadership positions and other emerging issues.

A presentation was also given on ISO/UNDP 53001:2026, “Management systems for United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — Requirements”, developed jointly with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and described as the world’s first international standard on managing organizations’ contributions to the SDGs.

The AZSTAND delegation also took part in an interactive seminar on the practical realities of business model transformation, which brought together heads and senior officials of ISO member bodies, as well as in the Europe and Central Asia Regional Forum, held to discuss regional priorities and exchange experience.

On the sidelines of the meeting, the delegation also met with ASTM International (formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials). The sides reviewed the work carried out under the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two organizations and discussed areas of future cooperation. The 10th anniversary of ASTM International’s partnership with Azerbaijan was also marked, and the importance of the joint work carried out over the past decade was underlined.