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”.