ASTM Global Policy Vice President Meets Bulgarian Defense Ministry Delegation

Jeffrey Grove, vice president, global policy and industry affairs, ASTM International, recently made a presentation to a delegation from the Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria in Washington, D.C. The delegation was led by Nikolay Velichkov, head of the unit for defense and industrial cooperation and standardization.

The purpose of the delegation's visit was to become familiar with various aspects of the U.S. standardization system, including civilian standards development. Grove provided an overview of international standardization issues of significance to aerospace and defense stakeholders and discussed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization policy on civil standards.

Of particular interest to the delegation was the technical cooperative agreement that ASTM International signed with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Standardization Agency in 2004 to support mutual interests in cooperating in all fields of standardization. The purpose of the agreement was to assist NATO in achieving technical cooperation with leading international standards providers that will enhance interoperability, lower costs and improve efficiencies in NATO operations.

The Bulgarian delegation was hosted by the Defense Standardization Program Office of the U.S. Department of Defense.

ASTM's Jeffrey Grove met with a Bulgarian Ministry of Defense delegation to discuss U.S. standardization. Left to right: Nikolay Velichkov, Gergana Yordanova, Latasha Beckman, Trudie Williams, Emiliya Marinova, Bruce Mahone and Jeffrey Grove.