On August 7 – 16, 2018 the annual Meeting of Experts of States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction (BWC) is taking place in Geneva.

Representatives of States Parties to the Convention, relevant international institutions and NGOs attend the event. In accordance with the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated July 18, 2018, No. 208/2018, the official delegation of our country to the forum consists of representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Permanent Mission of Ukraine in Geneva, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medical Sciences and the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine.

Participants of the Meeting are discussing ways to further strengthen the BWC, ensure national implementation of the mentioned Convention, deepen international cooperation, including in the context of providing technical assistance to States Parties to the Convention to identify and combat threats of pandemic nature and use the results of biological research for peaceful purposes, as well as issues related to the developments of sciences and technologies, which are subject to the BWC.

The delegation of Ukraine takes an active part in the discussions; it drew attention of the international community, in particular, to the work being carried out in our country in the field of providing education and dissemination of knowledge on biosafety and biosecurity. The Ukrainian side stressed that the global geopolitical, geoecological, climate, epidemiological and epizootic changes, the existing possibility of using bioactive agents for terrorist purposes, and the rapid development of biotechnology make it necessary to solve biosafety issues not only at the national, but also international level. In this context, the need to introduce educational programs on biosecurity and bioethics has been particularly emphasized. The participants of the meeting were informed about Ukraine’s significant experience in the sphere, which could be used as a model to be followed by other countries in the Eastern Europe region.