To enhance the global competitiveness of Turkey, to facilitate studies for eliminating  technical barriers to trade between countries in the region, to raise the level of quality of life of  society at large and to contribute to the realization of 2023 Vision of Turkey by raising the awareness of all stakeholders about the importance and role of standards and standardization, an international symposium “Effects of standardization on global economy” was held in Istanbul on 25 and 26 November under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish Standards Institution (TSE).

Over 600 experts, politicians and stakeholders from Europe, Middle East and African countries attended the symposium. Bosnia and Herzegovina  was represented by Mr. Aleksandar Cincar, director of the Institute for Standardization (BAS).

Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation was signed between the Turkish Standards Institution and the Institute for Standardization of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2010.  Since a basis for cooperation already exists, during the symposium the representatives of the two institutions, Mr. Hulusi Şentürk, President of TSE, and Mr. Aleksandar Cincar signed an Action plan and Work program of joint activities of these two institutions aiming to improve standardization in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, this cooperation with TSE, as one of the world’s greatest institutions in the field of conformity assessment, means enabling BAS Institute to get involved in the conformity assessment system, which contributes to the further development of this system in Bosnia and Herzegovina in accordance with the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA). According to the signed documents the cooperation will begin in January 2014.