The delegation of the National Institute of Standards headed by director Yenok Azaryan participated in the annual traditional events of ISO held in Berlin, Germany, on September 18-22, 2017, hosted by the German Institute of Standardization (DIN). By the way, the week of ISO took place in Berlin because it was celebrated the 100th anniversary of the foundation of DIN.

Should be noted that the Republic of Armenia has been a full member of ISO since 1997, which has 162 member bodies now. The National Institute of Standards currently participates in the work of 61 technical committees and 3 policy making committees - CASCO, DEVCO and COOPOLCO. In 2014, the National Institute of Standards was elected a member of the ISO Council for the 2015-2017 period by secret voting of the ISO Assembly.

For this ISO Week was chosen the following slogan "Open minded. Open for change ", which essentially underlined the necessity of rapid adaptation to new technological developments and the new mentality of the younger generation.

In general, the ISO Week included the following events:

1. On October 18, the ISO Council session was held,

2. On October 19, the 51st Plenary Session of the Standing Committee on Developing Countries (DEVCO) was held

3. On October 20-21, ISO 40th Anniversary Assembly,

4. On October 22 an open session was organized with the opportunity to visit separate technological innovation centers.

The delegation of the National Institute of Standards participated in all events. During the Assembly, the ISO officials reported on the developments of the last year. The new ISO General Secretary, recently elected by the ISO Council, was introduced. The president of DEVCO, the director of the Academy of ISO, the president of ISO, the secretary general of ISO, the vice-chairmen of ISO delivered separate speeches.

An open platform called "Open Zone" was opened in the lobby at the main hall of the Assembly, where the latest developments in the field of standardization were presented and at the same time the participants were interviewed on the priorities of the standardization and future development. At that level, DIN specialists presented a number of very interesting new concepts related to the involvement of the younger generation in standardization, the future format of technical committees' work, and so on.

In general, the 40th Assembly of ISO was held in high efficiency and recorded a number of significant achievements that will further enhance the international role of ISO and will promote the growth of globalization processes.

The SARM delegation participated in the ISO Week in Berlin with special meetings with Mr. Zhang Xiaogang, President of ISO, Mr. Sergio Mujica, the new Secretary General of ISO, President and CEO of the US National Institute of Standards (ANSI) Mr. Joe Bhatia, German Institute of Standardization (DIN) Director Christoph Winterhalter and Deputy Director Rüdiger Marquardt, Head of Rosstandart Mr. Alexey Abramov, President of ASTM International Standardization Company Katharine Morgan and Vice President Teresa Cendrowska, as well as a number of delegations of other countries. As a result of these discussions, in particular, the exchange of experience took place and the possibilities of expanding bilateral cooperation were discussed.