Annual ISAAA KC/BIC Meeting
 

26 - 28 March 2008

MABIC was privileged to be the host to the 2008 Annual ISAAA KC/BIC Meeting on March 26th -28th 2008. This is the annual gathering of BICs and ISAAA’s Knowledge Centre where country reports are presented by the respective BIC heads. This year saw the participation of Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Spain, Japan, and Kenya.

As side events to this meeting, two public seminars were organized. On the 25th of March, Professor Iqbal Choudhary from University of Karachi presented a talk entitled, “Medicinal Plant Biotechnology – ‘Towards Molecular Treatment of Diseases’” at Monash University, Sunway Campus. The other public seminar was organized with Innovation and Commercialisation Centre (ICC) , Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (UPM) on the 26th of March where Prof. Paul Teng from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Mr. Robert H. Meyer and Mr. Izhar Hifnei from Malaysia Biotechnology Corporation gave talks related to commercialization and bioentrepreneurship.
 
The BIC Meeting began in the afternoon of 26th March at Monash University with the welcome speech and introduction of delegates by Dr. Mariechel Navarro and Opening Remarks by Dr. Randy Hautea. BIC Activities Presentations were then conducted in the following order: Bangladesh by K. Nasiruddin, Egypt by Ismail Abdel Hamid, India by Bhagirath Choudhary, Indonesia by Bambang Purwantara, Kenya by Margaret Karembu, Malaysia by Mahaletchumy Arujanan, Pakistan by Mohammed Iqbal Choudhary, Philippines by Sonny Tababa and Spain by Jose Ondiviela. All countries shared their accomplishment and future plans with full of enthusiasm. It was heartening to see the achievements of BICs across the globe in developing biotechnology and the role these organizations play to complement the efforts of their respective government.
Later in the evening the delegates attended the Welcome Dinner at Shah Village Resort, Petaling Jaya and were feasted with an array of local cuisine. Also present were representatives of Monash University, Assoc. Prof. Song Keang Peng and Dr. Quah Soon Cheng, MABIC fellows Prof. Iekshan Othman, Prof. Latif Ibrahim, Tuan Shaikh Saifudeen and Mr. P. Kandiah.
The BIC & KC Meeting was continued on the following day at Armada Hotel. First was the continuation of the BIC presentations from Thailand by Sujin Patarapowadol, Vietnam by Huynh Anh Thu, China by Huang Dafang and Sri Lanka by Bhagirath Choudhary. A presentation on the Controversial State of GMOs in Japan was given by Fusao Tomita, followed by the KC Presentation by Mariechel Navarro and a Proposal Writing session with Rhodora Aldemita. Prof. Paul Teng and Dr. Hautea gave brief presentation on the future directions of BICs.
 
March 28th marked the departure of most BIC delegates, while a Proposal Writing for BICs in OIC countries was conducted for Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Egypt. Furthermore, MABIC conducted its 3rd Fellow Meeting with the attendance of Dr. Hautea and Dr. Navarro.

Besides attending the meeting, the delegates took the opportunity to visit some places of interest and went on a shopping spree in KL. Everyone left with renewed spirit and high morale to accomplish more this year. The team will meet again early next year in another country. This network provides the key strength to each BIC as resources, knowledge, expertise, information and experiences are shared freely.