The 7th APEC Workshop on Agricultural Biotechnology
1-9 December 2003, Beijing, China

SESSION A

APEC Workshop on Agricultural Biotechnology

INTRODUCTION AND SCOPE OF WORKSHOP

Session A, to be held on 1-5 December 2003, will provide a forum to exchange the technical and regulatory information and view on the subject related to agricultural biotechnology among APEC member economies, as well as the formulation of RDEAB implementation plan.

OBJECTIVES OF SESSION A

The focus of the workshop will be on:

·         Technical cooperation and information exchange, in particular on member economy’s experiences on how to create a more transparent environment for the regulation of biotechnology, e.g. information dissemination or communication, interactions with stakeholders, including the potential roles of WTO capacity building funding on the development of biotechnology regulation

·         Capacity building for the safe use of agricultural biotechnology

·         Discussing food and environmental risk assessment/management leading to transparent and science-based approaches to the regulation of the newest products of agricultural biotechnology

·         Addressing the challenges on emerging issues and on member economy experience in dealing with the challenges

·         Linking the work done in APEC with other international organizations

DELEGATES

Delegates to Session A will be people involved in developing agricultural biotechnology policy within member economies, or performing biotechnology risk analysis or regulating the import and export of commodities produced through modern biotechnology. They will be selected by APEC representatives within each member economy.  Member delegates will be expected to provide updates on their economy’s approaches and experiences.

OTHER PARTICIPANTS

Other participants are resource people who will make presentations at sessions A.  Resource people can participate in all sub-sessions except for the sessions indicated as for APEC delegations only.  They can ask questions and express their views only if time permits.