RI must push biotechnology

RI must push biotechnology

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will need to catch up in the field of biotechnology if it wants to develop as an industrial nation, a senior official of the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) warns.

Irawadi Jamaran, the agency's Deputy Chairman for Basic and Applied Sciences, said last weekend that mastery in biotechnology is a must if the country is to improve its industrial and agricultural products.

The technology, he said, will add to the value of products and, giving them a competitive edge in a tightening world market.

In Southeast Asia, Thailand and Malaysia lead the biotechnology field, especially in crop production.

Irawadi stressed that unless Indonesia adopted modern techniques of biotechnology, such as creating tissue cultures for growing plants of high quality, exploitation of the country's natural bio-resources will be controlled by other countries.

"Currently, judging from the amount of biotechnology being applied to Indonesian products, we must admit that in general we have a lot to catching up to do with other countries," he said during a press conference.

Cooperation with other countries, he said, is necessary to guarantee that the exploration and management of bio-resources and the development of biotechnology are carried out responsibly and "to ensure that everyone gets the same share of the benefits".

To obtain more input on what Indonesia could do to promote the technology, BPPT will open a three-day international forum on the conservation and sustainable use of tropical bio-resources here tomorrow.

Jointly sponsored by BPPT, Japan's New Energy Development Organization and the Japan Biotechnology Association will attend as well as 150 other local and foreign participants.

Among the topics to be discussed in the forum are ecosystem management in Indonesia, in situ/ex situ conservation of the ecosystem and its species, application of genetic engineering and biotechnology to bio-resource utilization, technology transfer and intellectual property rights and public awareness of conservation and the sustainable use of tropical bio-resources.

"The forum will gather and collect ideas about tropical bio- resource management and explore, identify, analyze and discuss their applications in the industry," Irawadi said.(pwn)