Jordan Open to Biotech Initiatives

Jordan understands the importance of genetically enhanced food for developing countries and is eager to learn and share experiences with international experts. The country supports initiatives to study more about these foods and will provide the necessary capacity to make this possible. Jordanian Minister of Agriculture Mustafa Quronfola forwarded these thoughts during the Second International Conference on “Genetically modified foods: Biosafety and genetically modified seeds and fodders” in Amman, Jordan. Participants came from Bahrain, Sudan, Kuwait, Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Egypt and the United States.

The conference which was held under the patronage of the Prime Minister and the Technical Consultancy Center, aimed to encourage discussion among Arabic countries on the applications of biotech crops. Dr. Rida Shilbi, faculty of agriculture of the Jordanian University, said that " Bt maize and Bt cotton field trails performed in Egypt this summer should encourage other Arabic countries to established its biosafety regulations to get benefits of biotech crops".

For more information about this conference email Dr. Ismail Abdel Hamid of the Eqypt Biotechnology Information Center at ismail@egypt-bic.com.