Public Research Regulation Initiative`s Closing Statement in the fifth meeting of the parties (MOP5) to Biosafety Protocol, October 15, 2010, Nagoya.

Mr. Chairman,

I speak on behalf of the Public Research and Regulation Initiative, PRRI.

Mr Chairman, we – public sector scientists working in modern biotechnology – consider the Cartagena Protocol an important instrument, because it offers countries that do not yet have biosafety regulations, a mechanism for informed decision making on LMOs, and thereby a way to participate in the benefits of modern biotechnology.

International sharing of the benefits of modern biotechnology is something to which Parties have agreed in article 19 of the Convention on Biodiversity. That same article 19 is the legal basis of the Cartagena Protocol.