India, Germany sign Work Plan 2022 to strengthen infrastructure, reduce trade barriers

New Delhi [India], February 16 : The 8th 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 on Tuesday.
The Working Group has met annually since 2013 and identifies areas of cooperation to support and strengthen quality infrastructure taking into account the needs and requirements of relevant stakeholders from diverse technology areas so as to support bilateral trade.
Talking to ANI, Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs said that it was a meeting of Indo-German joint working group on quality infrastructure.
"Quality in infrastructure means the development of new standards, the conformity assessment as to how those standards are being followed by the industry and ensuring the safety of the consumer which is of extreme importance, especially to this department. So, by aligning with foreign governments and overseas industrial giants like Germany, what we ensure that the quality framework in India is of international standards. So, it automatically facilitates the path of exports, because our products become of higher quality and they become immediately acceptable to foreign countries as important their imports that is our exports. So, in this meeting, we have decided about the plan for 2022," the Consumer Affairs Secretary said.
He further said that our big challenges are how to adapt or develop new standards in new and emerging areas like artificial intelligence, smart farming electric vehicles. "I think with the expertise on both sides being available in these sectors, we will be able to get a chance to come up with new standards, so that it's a win-win proposition for both countries."
Rohit Kumar Singh noted that Germany is an important and trusted partner for India. He underscored the importance of a well-established and robust quality infrastructure that consists of standardization, technical regulations and market surveillance for the success of the Government of India initiative to transform India into a global manufacturing hub.
The Consumer Affairs Secretary urged the 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 a 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 the 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.
It is worth mentioning that 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 the Quality Infrastructure regime in Europe and in Germany.
The 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 the 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".
It is notable that the 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.