Southeast Asia region working together to enhance biosecurity

In our interconnected world, medical research, agriculture, and industrial processes often involve biological materials but these can also pose significant risks if mishandled or deliberately misused. The impacts of biological risks, whether natural, accidental or deliberate in origin, can range from localised infections to global pandemics.

Regional conference supports enhancement of biosecurity in Southeast Asia

Recognizing the dual-use nature of biological materials, on 2-5 July 2024, technical experts from eight countries in Southeast Asia gathered in Bangkok for a Regional Conference aimed at enhancing regional biosecurity measures. 

The Conference facilitated international exchanges of expertise and collaboration on topics essential to the creation of a safer and more secure biological landscape in Southeast Asia. The global nature of biosecurity was underlined in a keynote address made by the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) Implementation Support Unit. The BWC, as the world’s premier forum for States to affirm their commitment to the universal prohibition of biological weapons, represents a key pillar of global efforts to ensure the peaceful use of biology.

The Conference facilitated international exchanges for the creation of a safer and more secure biological landscape in Southeast Asia

The Conference, supported by the European Union Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Risk Mitigation Centres of Excellence Initiative EU CBRN CoE, brought together national experts from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam to address biosecurity challenges through a multi-faceted approach. Thailand, as the host country, made a significant contribution by not only offering training and laboratory facilities for the Conference but also sharing their significant experience managing biorisks. 

See the event's photogallery

BIOSEC: Improving biosecurity management systems in Southeast Asia

These countries have been working with EU CBRN CoE Project 81 BIOSEC since 2019 and the Conference was part of the project’s objectives to raise awareness, facilitate regional exchanges and enhance biosecurity. The project aims at providing a set of tools for improving biosecurity management systems in Southeast Asia with a focus on capacity-building directed at highly communicable diseases with global and catastrophic potential, including pandemics. 

The delegates were invited, based on their respective areas of expertise, to participate in one of four thematic workstreams – legal frameworks and international obligations related to biosecurity, laboratory techniques to prevent the loss of control of high-impact pathogens, management arrangements at high-containment facilities including physical and information security and, lastly, identifying enhancements to the enforcement of regulations through exercising and testing of procedures. 

The project aims at providing a set of tools for improving biosecurity management systems in Southeast Asia

The Conference culminated with a Table-Top Exercise (TTX) which explored the interconnection between the countries and arrangements for mutual support in dealing with a hypothetical rising tide of infections coinciding with an international sporting event attended by all ASEAN Member States.  

See the event's photogallery

Project 81 will continue to build on this achievement through the implementation of similar exercises focusing on individual national responses. Biosecurity laboratory training and the development of legal frameworks with practical guidance on implementation of secure procedures will continue until the end of the project in March 2025. 

EU CBRN CoE Project 81‘BIOSEC - Enhanced Biosecurity in South-East Asia’ is led by the implementer Sustainable Criminal Justice Solutions (Europe) in cooperation with the European entities VERTIC, UKHSA, ASST-SACCO, MORU, and RIVM.