ASTM International and The International Code Council will host a delegation of officials from the Gulf Cooperation Council Standardization Organization (GSO) April 3-14. The delegation will visit Pennsylvania, New York City, Chicago and San Antonio.  GSO includes the national standards bodies of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

The delegation will:

•    Visit offices of ASTM International, the International Code Council, and Underwriters Laboratories, and receive training on the International Green Construction Code and other topics;

•    Meet with local engineering firms and manufacturers who use ASTM standards and ICC codes;

•    Visit local government agencies responsible for code enforcement such as the New York City Building Department and City of San Antonio Building Department;

•    Participate in the biannual meetings of ASTM committees E06 on Performance of Buildings and E60 on Sustainability; and,

•    Visit a major research and development hub (Southwest Research Institute).

These activities are coordinated through the Standards and Codes for Sustainable Construction project, a three-year partnership between ICC and ASTM supported in part by the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration’s Market Development Cooperator Program. The project supports the Gulf region’s efforts related to energy efficiency, water conservation, materials management, building safety and overall economic growth. This partnership is now in its second year.

For more information, visit: http://www.astm.org/MDCP

Contacts:

For ICC: Raj Nathan, head of global services, tel +1.562.699.0541, ext. 3318, rnathan@iccsafe.org

For ASTM: James Olshefsky, director of external relations, tel +1.610.832.9714, jolshefsky@astm.org; or Nathan Osburn, director of corporate communications, tel +1.610.832.9603, nosburn@astm.org

Release #10019