The Secretariat of the Government of Agroindustry of the Nation participated in the Meeting of the Argentina-China Working Group on Agricultural Biotechnology and Biosecurity that took place between May 27 and 28 in the city of Beijing, China.
The Argentine delegation raised the need to address the problem of Low Level Presence (LLP) situations, which is why it invited Chinese officials to join the Global Low Presence Initiative (GLI), which is co-led by Argentina.
The national delegation, headed by the Secretary of Food and Bioeconomy, Andrés Murchison, asked them about the status of biotechnological events of special interest to our country, including drought-tolerant soybeans Hb4 developed by the company INDEAR, which already has commercial authorization in our country, Brazil and the United States.
Representatives from the Asian giant expressed interest in Argentina's regulatory experience regarding gene editing techniques and its role as an FAO Reference Centre on Biosecurity.
The meeting, which addressed issues related to the regulatory frameworks for biotechnology and biosafety in each of the parties, is the eighth instance of dialogue on biotechnology between both countries, within the framework of an agreement signed in 2004 and which is the longest-standing, followed by the equivalent dialogues that China maintains with Brazil, Canada and the United States.
It is worth noting that given the increase in the number and relevance of the topics on the bilateral agenda, for the first time this year the meeting of the Working Group with Argentina has doubled its duration and will be held in both capitals; the second part of the meeting will take place in the city of Buenos Aires next June.
Recognition for Argentina
The Chinese delegation offered a gala dinner to the Argentine delegation to express its appreciation to Argentina for being the first country to authorize, through the Secretariat, DBN-Ø9ØØ4-6 soybeans, a biotech crop developed in China. The celebration was attended by the Vice Mayor of Beijing, who proposed to jointly organize a fair to promote Argentine foods in that capital.
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