Philippines Celebrate 18th National Biotech Week

On November 21, 2022, the Philippines officially opened the celebration of the 18th National Biotechnology Week. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) hosts the five-day event at the Philippine Trade Training Center, Pasay City. The theme for this year is Responding to the Challenges: Business Opportunities in Biotechnology, and it aims to attract and incentivize strategic investments in biotechnology to make producers and business players more competitive, improve the supply chain, and increase economic growth in the country.

The opening ceremony was participated by different government, non-government, and private organizations and agencies who are advocates for biotechnology research and development and the benefits that the technology brings. DTI Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual graced the occasion by giving welcome remarks, where he commended Filipino biotechnology application developers, especially those in the universities. He hopes these applications find their way into the business industry to bring about modern products and services for the benefit of Filipino consumers. The heads of the Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Commission on Higher Education, Department of Science and Technology (DOST), DTI, and Department of Health (DOH) also gave their respective messages and support for the event.

Ma. Corazon Halili-Dichosa, Executive Director of the Board of Investments (BOI), formally declared the opening of the 18th National Biotechnology Week and presented the various activities throughout the week. These simultaneous events that will be held in face-to-face, online, and hybrid settings include a policy forum, a technical and investor's forum, and various seminars and webinars on socio-economics, fruit production, aquaculture, edible vaccine, industrial biotechnology, and biotechnology applications on HIV research and monkeypox, among others. Various booths of participating organizations such as the DA's Crop, Livestock and Fisheries Biotech Centers and DOST's Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development and Forest Products Research and Development Institute, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture, ISAAA Inc., International Rice Research Institute, DOH's Food and Drug Administration, DENR's Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau, CropLife Philippines, and Worth The Health Foods.

The celebration will end on November 25, 2022. The scheduled activities for that day include the turnover of the NBW chairmanship from the DTI to the next host to be led by DTI Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo and the official closing by BOI Executive Director Maria Veronica F. Magsino.

Visit the exhibit and participate in seminars at the PTTC, Pasay City, to learn more about the NBW activities. Refer to the NBW Facebook page for more details.