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ABNE News

Inception meetings for NEPAD-ABNE Management and Technical Committees held in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania from February 1 to 5, 2010
African leaders approve new agency to replace NEPAD Secretariat

Upcoming Events

Sixth coordination meeting for governments and Organizations, 1-3 February in Cambodia
Workshop on "Introduction to GMO Biosafety Risk Assessment (ICGEB & BiosafeTrain project)
Agbiosafeseed 2010, Entebbe, Uganda (8-12 March 2010
Biosafety - An International Short Course in Environmental Aspects of Agricultural Biotechnology, MSU, July 25-30, 2010
An International Short Course in Food Safety, MSU, August 1-6, 2010

New Material ....

Dear User,

We are pleased to inform you that we have just added new content in the "Environmental biosafety" and "Biotechnology /Biosafety" sections. Additional information on Food Biosafety will appear very soon.We hope that you will find this information of value. Thanks

Dear User, the ABNE website was originally developed as a portal to obtain reliable biosafety information from other web sites. ABNE has now begun constructing its own material which will be made available over the coming months...Read more about our plans

African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE)

..a Biosafety Resource on Crop Biotechnology for Regulators

  Welcome to ABNE Website!

The ABNE website was originally developed as a portal to obtain reliable biosafety information from other web sites. ABNE has now begun constructing its own material which will be made available over the coming months.

The African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE) is a continent-wide Africa-based initiative established by the NEPAD Office of Science and Technology under the African Biosciences Initiative (ABI) to provide expertise and networking facilities for biotechnology and biosafety. Establishment of ABNE is a contribution to Recommendation 14 as outline in the AU/NEPAD document, Freedom to Innovate, “The African Union Secretariat and NEPAD need to build further capacity in biotechnology regulation”. In addition to this recommendation, the Conference of African Union Ministers of Agriculture held in Gabon, 2006 took an African Position on GMOs in Agriculture also recommended the need for capacity building for biosafety and biotechnology.

NEPAD and Biotechnology

In a drive to harness Science and Technology, African leaders adopted a Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action (CPA). One of the flagship programs of the CPA is the African Biosciences Initiative (ABI) which focuses on research and development (R&D) in the areas of biotechnology, biodiversity, indigenous knowledge systems and technology.

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The Need for Biosafety Regulatory Systems

In order to effectively advance the science of biotechnology in Africa, while at the same time safeguarding human health and the environment, the African Ministerial Council on Science and Technology (AMCOST) resolved to develop a 20 year biotechnology strategy which guides the development of effective biosafety regulatory systems within the Member States. These systems aim to provide a balance between promoting learning and creativity in biotechnology, while protecting public interests. In November 2006, the African Union’s Directorate of Human Resources, Science and Technology published the African Strategy on Biosafety