On 11-13 September 2017, FAO will organize the Regional Meeting on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Sustainable Food Systems and Nutrition in Asia-Pacific. The meeting takes place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and is hosted and co-organised by the Government of Malaysia.
It is the first of four regional meetings that FAO is planning to organise in 2017-2018. The second one will be in the Sub-Saharan Africa region in 2017, while there are two planned for 2018 - in Latin America and the Caribbean and in North Africa and the Near East. The regional meetings are planned as a follow-up to the FAO International Symposium on The Role of Agricultural Biotechnologies in Sustainable Food Systems and Nutrition, which took place on 15-17 February 2016 at FAO Headquarters, Rome.
During the Symposium, the importance of bringing the dialogue from the global to the regional level was highlighted by participants. In closing the Symposium, the FAO Director-General concluded: “Now FAO has to move forward. We intend to bring the debate to a regional perspective. We want to hear from governments, farmers and researchers of all regions about their needs and concerns regarding biotechnology”.
The aim of the 2016 Symposium was to explore the application of biotechnologies for the benefit of smallholders in developing sustainable food systems and improving nutrition in the context of climate change. The FAO Regional Meeting on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Asia-Pacific will bring the dialogue and exchange of knowledge and experiences regarding biotechnologies to the regional level, using a multisector approach covering the crop, livestock, forestry and fishery sectors. It will also aim to cover the wide spectrum of available biotechnologies, from low- to high-tech, including microbial food fermentation, tissue culture in crops or trees, reproductive technologies in livestock, DNA-based kits to diagnose diseases in farmed fish, use of molecular markers, genetic modification and other biotechnologies.
The target audience for the regional meeting in Malaysia includes representatives of governments, intergovernmental organizations and non-state actors in the Asia-Pacific region. The term ‘non-state actors’ refers to civil society organizations; private sector entities (including philanthropic foundations); academia and research institutions; and cooperatives and producer organizations. Representatives of non-state actors are now invited to express their interest in attending the regional meeting. To do so, please fill out the short form that is available at http://www.fao.org/asiapacific/events/detail-events/en/c/1440/. The deadline for expression of interest is 30 June 2017. For more information about this call for representatives of non-state actors to express an interest in attending this regional meeting, please contact [email protected].
