As part of a regional policy dialogue on "Biotechnology, agriculture, and food security in Southern Africa", the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), one of the research centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and the Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), convened its first meeting on 25-26 April 2003 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The minutes and report of the meeting, as well as six background documents, are available on the web. The background documents deal with the following subjects respectively: an overview of agricultural biotechnology in Southern Africa; consensus finding processes and GMOs; policy, regulatory and ethical issues surrounding agricultural biotechnology; biosafety; intellectual property rights and, finally, food safety and consumer choice. See http://www.ifpri.org/events/conferences/2003/042503.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.

01/01/2004