With the support of the US State Department, facilitated by CRDF Global, PGA's International Peace and Security Program was pleased to organize on September 22, 2020 a highly interactive Virtual Workshop with Malaysian and Indonesian Parliamentarians on Addressing the Challenges of COVID-19 through Implementation of International Biosecurity and Biosafety Frameworks. In bringing attention to domestic, regional and international public health and biosecurity and biosafety priorities, in particular in the context of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, this Workshop advanced important and urgent solution-finding processes.

The close, mutually reinforcing nature of the Biological Weapons Convention, UN Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004) and the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 of the World Health Organization (WHO) were also reviewed at length during the course of this Workshop. A Plan of Action was adopted at the conclusion of the Workshop identifying steps that Parliamentarians can take to promote biosafety, biosecurity and bio-risk management best practice goals.

For more information on PGA's Campaign for Universality and Implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) & Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004), please visit: https://www.pgaction.org/ips/bwc/.