ECOWAS Moves To Harmonize Biosafety Regulations in West Africa
09 Dec, 2017
 Abuja, 6th December 2017 . Experts from ECOWAS Member States, the Republic of Chad, the African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE) and the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) have commenced a joint technical consultative meeting in order to validate the draft regulations on biosafety in the region. Opening a two-day meeting on the 6th of December, 2017 in Abuja, Nigeria, the ECOWAS Commission’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Water Resources and Environment, Mr. Tchambakou Ayassor said the aim of the consultative meeting is to achieve a joint regional approach to prevent and manage the risk of biotechnology in the region. Represented by the Commission’s Director for Environment, Dr. Johnson Boanuh, Commissioner Ayassor maintained that the harmonization of policies such as the biosafety regulations in West Africa is in line with the ECOWAS vision of regional integration. “It will help to avoid the duplication of texts on the same topics among Member States”, he added. The representative of the ABNE, Dr.Moussa Savadogo, in his remarks reiterated that this meeting will serve to improve the draft regional regulations on biosafety which will be beneficial to the region. Also speaking during the opening session of the meeting, Mr. Siaka Dembelle of the CILSS, expressed confidence in the expertise of the participants to enrich the draft regulations on biosafety in West African. The aim of the meeting is to put ECOWAS Member States on the same level of understanding on the biosafety regulations. Once the draft regulations are agreed on, they will be presented through a validation by experts and the sector Ministers to the ECOWAS Council of Ministers for adoption in 2018. |
