At ISO, we recognize the importance of global partnerships because the whole ISO system depends on it. An ISO International Standard is developed with the collaboration and consensus of a wide range of stakeholders from all corners of the Earth, including representatives from government, industry and standardization bodies.

We partner with a large number of international organizations to ensure participation from a diverse array of stakeholders and bring the benefits of standards to all countries, regardless of size or economic status. We also work to reinforce the capacity of developing countries in standardization to ensure our standards are globally relevant. The aim is to strengthen their national standards infrastructure by building skills in areas such as strategy, technical and operational expertise and relationships with policy makers, to support their participation in international standardization.

A key component in achieving this is the New Rights Pilot Programme, which allows countries to participate more actively in ISO standards development work in specific sectors such as tourism, food products and conformity assessment. This, in turn, contributes to improving public welfare in vital areas such as health, safety and environmental protection, creating economic growth and a gateway to world markets.