EU CBRN Centers of Excellence - Biosafety Association of Central Asia and the Caucasus 6-th Annual Conference “BACAC: Bridging the Gaps”

11 Mar 2019 - 15 Mar 2019

On 11-15 March, 2019 the EU CBRN Centers of Excellence – Biosafety Association of Central Asia and the Caucasus (BACAC) 6-th Annual Conference “BACAC: Bridging the Gaps” was held in Tashkent, Republic of Uzbekistan. The meeting was organized by BACAC in cooperation with the European Union CBRN Centers of Excellence Initiative (EU CBRN CoE). The event brought together more than 170 specialists in the field of human and animal health from different countries of Central Asia and Caucasus as well as from European Union, Moldova, Ukraine, the USA and other countires.
The event consisted of pre-conference workshops (11 – 12 March), conference programme (13 – 14 March) and a BACAC membership meeting (15 March). The pre-conference training workshops were devoted to “Laboratory Quality Management Implementation”, “Laboratory Risk Assessment”, “Opportunities to Enhance the Implementation of the BWC” and other important topics of Biosafety&Biosecurity (BS&S) area. The scientific programme of the conference “BACAC: Bridging the Gaps” covered the most urgent problems of BS&S in BACAC region and worldwide, including:
• Regulatory frameworks;
• Harmonization of national frameworks according to international agreements (BWC, IHR, Codex Alimentarius);
• Emergency Response Cooperation (Regional and International);
• International Standards ;
• Introduction of the new WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual (4th edition);
• Dual-use, bio-ethics and expert control issues;
• Cooperation in biosafety/biosecurity training;
• Disease Surveillance (Silk Road Program, EU biolab Network, etc.).
The STCU delegation at the 6-th Annual BACAC Conference contained of 20 experts in BS&S representing the Ministries of Health, Veterinary Services and advanced scientific Bio-Institutions of all STCU Recipient countries (5 experts from each STCU country: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine). The STCU Senior Specialist Dr. Vlada Pashynska presented at the conference the invited report “Recent Biosafety and Biosecurity Activities of the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine” and shared the STCU experience in implementation of BS&S related projects.
The conference offered an excellent opportunity to update the current international Biosafety and Biosecurity developments and to foster regional and international networking and partnerships in the area.