Participants Invited to Join Second U.S. Delegation to ASEAN Standards Meeting

Representatives from industry; federal agencies; and standards, testing and certification organizations are invited to join a U.S. delegation to a second meeting with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN. The meeting will be held with members of the ASEAN Consultative Committee for Standards and Quality in Surabaya, Indonesia, during the week of July 21, 1997.

Participants in the U.S. delegation will meet with southeast Asian government and private-sector entities to exchange information and explore opportunities in standards-related areas that can enhance U.S. trade with the ASEAN countries (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).

The second ASEAN meeting is being planned by two Commerce Department agencies--the International Trade Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology--in cooperation with the American National Standards Institute. ANSI is a private non-profit membership organization that coordinates voluntary standards activities in the United States.

The 1997 standards meeting follows up on the productive first dialogue between the United States and ASEAN delegates at the ACCSQ's July 1996 meeting in Malaysia.

Other global and regional information exchanges, such as the Transatlantic Business Dialogue, have done much to reduce non-tariff trade barriers in important markets such as the European Union. The ACCSQ currently oversees ASEAN's cooperative activities with Japan-MITI and the Commission of the EU in standards, testing and certification. It is critical for the United States to maintain a dialogue with ACCSQ for cooperation on standards-related matters.

In addition to the ACCSQ meeting in Indonesia, additional opportunities to exchange information are being planned for the U.S. delegation with officials at the Philippines Standards Organization, Manila, and with the Vietnamese standards organization, STAMEQ, Hanoi.

Parties interested in joining the second U.S. delegation should immediately contact either of the following coordinators:

• Elena Mikalis, Desk Officer, Indonesia and ASEAN Affairs, ITA, HCHB 2036, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230, (202)482-3894, fax: (202) 482-3316, mikalis [at] usita.gov (mikalis[at]usita[dot]gov); or
• Roger Rensberger, Senior Standards Specialist, Europe and Asia-Pacific Affairs, Bldg. 820, Room 282, Office of Standards Services, NIST, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001, (301) 975-2766, fax:(301) 963-2871, roger.rensberger [at] nist.gov (roger[dot]rensberger[at]nist[dot]gov).

Fara Faramarzpour, director, Corporate Strategic Standardization, Polaroid Corp., and ANSI board member and chair of the ANSI Asia-Pacific Regional Standing Committee, is coordinating private-sector participation. Faramarzpour can be contacted at:

• Polaroid Corp., 549 Technology Square, Cambridge, Mass. 02139, (617) 386-3345, fax: (617) 386-9115, .

All delegates to the Second ASEAN Standards and Conformity Assessment Information Exchange will be responsible for their individual expenses, and each delegate will be charged an administrative support fee of $500 by the Commerce Department.