Biotech Updates

Bangladesh Officials Back Biotech to Address Food Crisis

October 30, 2009

Bangladesh Cabinet Secretary Abdul Aziz voiced out the urgent need to consider biotechnology ventures to alleviate the present food crisis. The Cabinet Secretary was the chief guest during the three-day training workshop on the finalization of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and Food Safety Legal Documents under the Food and Agriculture Organization- administered project Assistance in the formulation of enabling regulatory measures for research and sustainable application of biotechnology at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) in Dhaka. The meeting was attended by around 120 senior officials from various stakeholder organizations.

Agriculture Secretary CQK Mustaq Ahmed said that Bangladesh needs to formulate and promulgate the relevant legislations and legal documents to harness the most from the benefits of biotechnology. Mr. El Zein El Muzamil, FAO Representative in Bangladesh, expressed and committed support to help finalize the legal documents. Dr. Wais Kabir, Executive Chairman of Bangladesh BARC, presided over the meeting and assured his part in making the biotech legal documents come into being.

Contact Dr. K.M. Nasiruddin, national coordinator of the Bangladesh Biotechnology Information Center at k.nasiruddin@isaaa.org for additional information about the workshop.