The event was chaired by Alastair Macdonald, Director General Industry UK, and opened by addresses from John Battle MP, UK Minister for Science, Energy and Industry and from Dr. Martin Bangemann, European Commissioner for Industrial Affairs. Communication and Dialogue. Regulatory Transparency and Efficiency. Ethics in Biotechnology. Presenters, like the delegates, came from a spectrum of interests and a wide range of European Union Member States.
Progress demands communication and dialogue.
It is vital to ensure safety while supporting development. The issues place responsibilities on all stakeholders. As with many of the issues surrounding biotechnology these themes are cross-cutting, and present challenges to all stakeholders. In a summary of this nature it is not possible to report all of the comments made during the day and for this reason the report does not seek to identify the individual contributions to the debates. Two core messages overlay the discussions and should be considered implicit in this summary.