Funded by the European Union
A project involving VERTIC’s National Implementation Measures (NIM) team has been officially recognised as part of the EU-ASEAN response to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
On 27 April 2020, the EU published a press release and fact sheet detailing the collaborative response between the EU and ASEAN to tackle the pandemic. The fact sheet includes European Union Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Risk Mitigation Centres of Excellence (EU CBRN CoE) Project 81 ‘BIOSEC-Enhanced Biosecurity in South East Asia’ in which VERTIC’s NIM Programme has been involved since November 2019. Project 81 is an example of ongoing work to improve biosecurity and pandemic response in the region of South East Asia.
The NIM team is leading Work Package 2 of Project 81 to ‘Review national legislation and guidelines in compliance with relevant international obligations in the area of biosecurity and contribute to their effective enforcement’. Under this work package, NIM is providing legislative assistance in relation to the Biological Weapons Convention, the International Health Regulations and other international instruments related to biosecurity.
The project is being delivered in partnership with and supporting current activities in Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. VERTIC forms part of a pan-European consortium led by Sustainable Criminal Justice Solutions Europe (SCJS, Belgium) and including Public Health England (PHE), the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco and the European CBRNE Center Umeå University.
For more information on Project 81, see the project website here.
The EU press release and fact sheet can be found here.
