GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY FORUM

12.40 to 13.40

Welcome and Initial Remarks      

Dr Sachin Chaturvedi, Fellow, RIS, New Delhi

Panelists                                       

Ricardo Melendez-Ortiz, Executive Director, International Centre
for Trade and Sustainable Development, Geneva.

Dr. Chantal Line Carpentier, Head, Environment, Economy, and    Trade Program Commission for Environmental Cooperation

Dr. Nares Damrongchai, Policy Researcher, National Centre for   genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, National Science and Technology Development Board, (BIOTEC) Thailand.

Qasim Shah, Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Pakistan

The Theme of Discussion    

The idea is to capture some salient features of the on-going debate on agro-environmental implications of biotechnology goods.  The option of labelling is likely to enhance cost of exports especially for LDCs and developing countries and non-labelling may lead to rejections of consignments.  This dilemma of developing countries needs to be highlighted, more so, in context of evolving technical assistance programmes and need of a fairer trade regime, which is like to bring in SPS/TBT related issues at the centre stage.  It is also important to realise that the assistance programme would also have to help LDCs and DCs in terms of putting their biotechnology statistics together so that the magnitude of these assistance programmes is better defined.