The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) Global Biosecurity Dialogue (GBD) brought more than 60 government officials, international organizations, nuclear experts and civil society leaders together in London last week to discuss solutions to strengthen global biosecurity and biosafety.
Representatives were on hand for the GBD from a range of sectors, including agriculture, defense, foreign affairs, public health and law enforcement. Participants agreed that GBD should be a forum that enables global action on biosecurity and biosafety during the event.
Through its work with regional biosecurity experts, the group also agreed that GBD’s mission would be to help shape the development, prioritization, and tracking of biodiversity activities. The group will work to accomplish those goals through policy frameworks, capability development, and emerging biological risk.
Additionally, the group agreed that GBD would engage experts to identify specific barriers, develop solutions to enhance biosecurity on regional and global levels, identify and fill gaps, forge new partnerships, and measure progress along the way.
GBD will also continue to work in concert with existing international efforts to address biological threats, including the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction and the Global Health Security Agenda.