DIN and DKE have signed a memorandum of understanding with the South African standards organization SABS. The three parties hope to strengthen their close collaboration in standardization even further, and so to promote economic exchange.
Close economic relations
South Africa is a promising market for German companies, as well as a gateway to other African markets in the region. In turn, Germany is a key bilateral trading partner for South Africa. “International standards are an important basis for the successful economic cooperation between our countries because they make it much easier for both German and South African companies to access the market for products and services,” explains Christoph Winterhalter, Chairman of the Executive Board at DIN.
Identifying technology fields
“Together with SABS, we initially plan to identify technology fields where we want to cooperate even more closely on the development of standards,” explains Michael Teigeler, Managing Director of DKE. “That will allow us to specifically address topics about international standardization, to represent Germany’s interests and, at the same time, to further improve the economic relationship between our countries.” To this end, the organizations also plan to cooperate on research projects – the results could then pave the way for norms and standardization on the market.
Focus on sharing knowledge
The cooperation agreement also includes even stronger efforts to exchange knowledge and best practices between the participating organizations. This applies to both international standardization projects and issues relating to education and training in the field of standardization, for example. As part of this initiative, DIN and DKE will also provide training measures within the development cooperation framework in order to improve the quality infrastructure in South Africa.
