I am very pleased to take the floor today, on behalf of the 31 member countries of the Global Partnership (GP) Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, to highlight some of the important contributions made by the GP community to strengthen the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) and enhance global biological security.  

When establishing the Global Partnership at the 2002 G8 Kananaskis Summit in Canada, Leaders recognized the risks associated with biological weapons and highlighted the importance of cooperative solutions to address deliberate biological threats. Consistent with the Kananaskis Principles and Guidelines, Global Partnership (GP) members subsequently identified biological security as an area of primary focus and agreed five common “Deliverables” to guide collective efforts to combat biological terrorism and proliferation around the world.

In October 2022, the Global Partnership issued a Declaration on Biological Security Biological, in which members reaffirmed their commitment to the implementation of concrete projects around the world to combat biological-related terrorism and proliferation. In this Declaration, the GP reiterated the importance of the group’s Biosecurity “Deliverables”, which provide the parameters for common and coordinated action by GP members to: secure and account for dangerous pathogens; prevent the deliberate misuse of pathogens; enhance regional surveillance networks; reinforce biological non-proliferation instruments; and promote responsible conduct in biological sciences.

In developing and delivering biological programming with partner countries, GP members place great importance on cooperation and assistance under Article X of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.  

GP members assess that Article X-relevant international cooperation and collaboration delivered through the Global Partnership contributes significantly to mitigation of global biological threats, whether naturally occurring, accidental (including releases from laboratories) or a deliberate biological weapons attack.

In accordance with the Final Document of the Eight Review Conference, in which States Parties were encouraged to submit detailed information on Article X implementation, the Global Partnership has prepared a working paper (BWC/CONF.IX/WP.51) that provides an overview of Article X-relevant projects implemented and/or funded by GP members since the Last Review Conference.  

The working paper includes a total of 311 projects that were implemented or funded by 20 GP partners: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden Switzerland, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States.

These Projects are valued at more than US$1.6 billion (or €1.54B) and were implemented in dozens of countries in every region of the world.

This paper is not an exhaustive catalogue of every biological project being implemented by GP partners. It is rather an indicative summary meant to highlight to BTWC States Parties the nature and scale of GP efforts. In this regard, it highlights and clearly demonstrates the significance of the collective contribution of GP members to global biological threat reduction and to fulfilment of respective national commitments under Article X of the BTWC.

Should you have any questions or wish to discuss any specific projects referenced in the working paper, please engage directly with the funding country.  For more general questions on the Biological Security Deliverables and programming efforts of the GP, we encourage you to consult the Global Partnership website (www.gpwmd.com).