Overview
The 2008 Meeting of States Parties was held in the Palais des Nations from 1 to 5 December 2008. It was chaired by Ambassador Georgi Avramchev of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In accordance with the decision of the Sixth Review Conference, the Meeting of States Parties considered the work of the Meeting of Experts to discuss, and promote common understanding and effective action on:
1. National, regional and international measures to improve biosafety and biosecurity, including laboratory safety and security of pathogens and toxins.
2. Oversight, education, awareness raising, and adoption and/or development of codes of conduct with the aim of preventing misuse in the context of advances in bio-science and bio-technology research with the potential of use for purposes prohibited by the Convention.
Report of the Meeting
The report of the Meeting of States Parties was adopted on Friday 5 December 2008 by consensus:
Side Events
Monday 1 December
13.00 - 15.00 National Implementation and Universalization of the Convention by VERTIC and the BioWeapons Prevention Project (Room XXII)
Tuesday 2 December
09.00-10.00 : Mesures pour l’Application à l’Echelon National de la Convention sur les Armes Biologiques (en français) – VERTIC (Salle XXII )
13.00 - 15.00 Confidence Building Measures (CBM): Preparing for the ground for the CBM content debate by Geneva Forum and Switzerland (Room XXII)
Wednesday 3 December
09.00 - 10.00 Education of Scientists by American Association for the Advancement of Science, Bradford University and Landau Network - Centro Volta (Room XXII)
Thursday 4 December
09.00 - 10.00 Preventing Bioviolence by DePaul Unviersity (Room XXII)
09.00-10.00 : Medidas para la Aplicación de la Convención sobre las Armas Biológicas (en Español) – VERTIC (Salle XXIII )
13.00 - 15.00 Universalization of Confidence-Building Measures in the Biological Weapons Convention / Universalisation des mesures de confiances de la Convention sur les armes biologiques (ENGLISH-FRENCH SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETATION) by United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) (Room XXII)
