ABIDI
In recent past adoption and diffusion of biotechnology has raised several policy challenges for the governance of biotechnology especially in the developing countries. The clarity about its governance has yet to take a concrete shape. It is therefore, important to outline an analytical framework that allows the measurement of related industrial and developmental activities so that the policy makers may evolve adequate responses. There have been intense discussions on the impact assessment of this technology and its measurement. In several developing countries biotechnology products such as GM crops have confounded the prevailing confusion on the intricate issues related to the measurement of the impact of the technology. These discussions have implications for developing countries.

OECD and few other developed countries have launched initiatives in the place in various institutional settings which may influence eventual policy debates in the ambit of trade, international regulatory arrangements and at the regional and national levels for the release, safety assessment and food use of biotechnology products through the generation of adequate and related statistics. However, developing countries have yet to come up with any major initiatives in this area.

It is in this respect that the RIS initiative of launching of Asian Biotechnology, Innovation and Development Initiative (ABIDI) in January 2007 at New Delhi assumes significance. There are very obvious synergies between this and the RIS work programme on broader Asian economic integration because after all economic integration has to be linking production facilities across countries. It is very important that we address the issues that are involved in developing a sound and reliable base of indicators, useful for measurement, statistics and are internationally comparable.We hope that a forum such as ABIDI would prove out to be an important first step in this direction.

RIS

Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) is an autonomous policy think-tank specialised in trade and development issues. Its work programme focuses on multilateral trade negotiations, regional economic integration in Asia, new technologies and development, South-South Cooperation and strategic responses to globalization.

The work of RIS is published in the form of research reports, books, discussion papers and journals. For more information about RIS and its work programme, please visit its website: www.ris.org.in