Director of Research and Innovation at the Ministry of Higher Education, Technology, and Innovation (MHETI), Dr. Lisho Mundia, says that the Namibian government has long recognised the importance that biotechnology plays in national development, poverty alleviation, and as a catalyst for sustainable economic development.

The government thus, through the MHETI and technical assistance from the Namibian Biotechnology Alliance (NABA), developed the National Biotechnology Policy in 1999.

Mundia says that the objectives of the National Biotechnology Policy at the time of inception were, among others, to guide the judicious modern use of biotechnology for sustainable development in ways that do not in any way jeopardise human or environmental health, including Namibia`s biodiversity and genetic resources.

He says that Namibia has since ratified the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which is aimed at ensuring an adequate level of protection in the field of the safe transfer, handling, and use of living-modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking into account risks to human health, and specifically focusing on transboundary movements.

Mundia was speaking at the Inception Workshop for Strengthening the Implementation of the National Biosafety Frameworks in Southern Africa.