As President Barack Obama met with President Hu Jintau of China earlier this month, members and staff of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) welcomed a delegation from the Standardization Administration of China (SAC), led by SAC administrator, Ji Zhengkun, for a series of high-level meetings on U.S.-China standards collaboration.

Held Jan. 19–21, in Washington, the prime focus of the visit was the signing of a tripartite Statement of Intent (SOI) between ANSI, SAC, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The SOI agreement builds on more than 25 years of U.S.-China cooperation in the area of standards, and is intended to foster enhanced public-private partnership and technical exchange between the two nations.

During a formal signing ceremony at NIST headquarters on Jan. 19, ANSI president and CEO S. Joe Bhatia joined NIST director Pat Gallagher and Ji in commending the SOI as an important and positive step forward in strengthening U.S.-Sino trade.

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