For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 21, 2001
U.S. Promotes Biotechnology in APEC
U.S. Promotes Biotechnology in APEC
Benefits of Biotechnology. President Bush and other APEC Leaders joined
today to confirm their support for the development of biotechnology to
help feed growing populations and its safe use based on sound science.
Biotechnology can help developing economies increase crop yields, while
using fewer pesticides and less water than conventional methods.
Biotechnology Policy Dialogue: APEC Leaders today endorsed a U.S.
proposal to establish a new High-Level Biotechnology Policy Dialogue.
Most APEC economies are developing domestic regulatory, trade, and
scientific policies to address the emerging field of agricultural
biotechnology. The dialogue will allow policy-makers to exchange views
and pursue cooperative activities on a wide range of issues relating to
biotechnology development, regulations governing new products,
implications for trade, and effective communications strategies.
APEC officials plan to hold the first session of the Biotechnology
Dialogue in Mexico City in February 2002. The United States believes
that the High-Level Policy Dialogue will help officials harness this
new technology and capitalize on its benefits. The dialogue will also
facilitate the discussion of those issues in other international fora.
Technical Assistance to Support Biotechnology: The APEC Leaders'
Declaration calls for more capacity building activities to help member
economies develop agricultural biotechnology. The Administration is
already enhancing technical assistance to support agricultural
biotechnology through a number of public and private sector programs.
These efforts include:
-- A joint project by the USDA, the U.S. Geological Survey, and
U.S. and Chinese universities to establish "centers of excellence" in
China to further capacity building and information exchange on best
agricultural practices.
-- Programs to develop appropriate disease-resistant crops, such as
the U.S.-Mexico project on genetic patterns of wheat viruses, which
aims to improve wheat resistance to infection.
-- Programs to develop crops with enhanced nutritional value, such
as a multi-nation project to develop staple crop varieties that contain
significantly more nutrients to address the malnutrition that afflicts
an estimated 3 billion people worldwide.
-- A public-private sector cooperative exchange program on food
research focusing on state-of-the-art developments in agricultural
biotechnology. An initial program, funded by the U.S. Trade Development
Agency and the private sector, is being organized by the Danforth
Research Center in St. Louis, Missouri, the Council for Agricultural
Science and Technology, and the U.S. National Center for APEC.
-- An exchange program for food safety and a public-private
dialogue on biotechnology regulation, supported by the U.S. Trade and
Development Agency, with the assistance of the Council for Agricultural
Science and Technology and the U.S. National Center for APEC. This
project will help build capacity in the region to formulate sound,
science-based regulatory policies, in areas such as phytosanitary
regulations, risk assessment, and testing and certification
requirements, that will ensure the environmental and food safety of all
food products.
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