www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and the Inter-American
Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) entered into a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) to cooperate for the continued adoption of agricultural
biotechnology in the Americas as part of IICA?s Hemispheric Biosafety and
Biotechnology Program (HBBP), January 2007.

As part of the Memorandum of Understanding, both organizations will
promote agricultural biotechnology initiatives that benefit the Americas
around the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the Convention on Biological
Diversity, the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the International Plant
Protection Convention, and World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements.

?Formalizing the collaborative efforts between BIO and IICA will promote the
development of national and regional policies and regulatory frameworks for
agricultural biotechnology,? said BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood.
?Today, more than 80 percent of global biotech acreage lies in the
Americas ? with a total of nine countries in North, Central, and South
America growing biotech crops. Today?s signing of the MOU will allow our two
organizations to continue to encourage the acceptance of agricultural
biotechnology by aiding countries in identifying their unique needs when
implementing this technology.?

?Through the Hemispheric Biosafety and Biotechnology Program, IICA has
worked to ensure that countries in the Americas are able to implement
agricultural biotechnology and to meet international trade and environmental
obligations,? said Dr. Jim Butler, Deputy Director General of IICA. ?Today?s
signing of the MOU will allow for BIO and IICA to further align their
efforts to improve the acceptance and implementation of agricultural
biotechnology across the Americas, and make certain that more farmers and
consumers will receive the socioeconomic, environmental, and financial
benefits associated with biotech crops.?

BIO and IICA have previously cooperated in the promotion of agricultural
biotechnology to support the development of an abbreviated system of food
safety risk assessment for adventitious presence (AP) and on implementation
issues for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic
institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across
the United States and 31 other nations. BIO members are involved in the
research and development of health-care, agricultural, industrial and
environmental biotechnology products. www.bio.org

The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture is the
specialized agency for agriculture of the inter-American system. Its mission
is to support the Member States in their pursuit of progress and prosperity
in the hemisphere through the modernization of the rural sector, promotion
of food security, and development of an agricultural sector that is
competitive, technologically prepared, environmentally managed, and socially
equitable for the people of the Americas. For additional information, please
go to: [www.iica.int].