The Director of the Vavilov Institute, Nikolay Dzyubenko, reminded participants at last week’s berry meeting that the Russian Federation had made firm commitments to share its genetic resources with the world. He mentioned two recent statements by political leaders, and thanks to the good offices of Sergey Alexanian, Vice Director for International Relations at the Vavilov Institute, we can share them here.
Speaking at the World Summit on Food Security at FAO headquarters in Rome in November 2009, the Minister of Agriculture Yelena Skrynnik said: “Russia supports the collective efforts of the world community in their struggle against hunger, and … As an explicit contribution to the solution of this task, Russia is ready to commence the procedure of incorporating the renowned unique global plant genetic resources collection of the Vavilov Institute into the system of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.”
Not too sure how that’s going.
Photo Copyright FAO.
