Negotiations on the use of biological weapons will start anew after 20 years of being stalled following an agreement among the state parties.
The Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations disclosed this as it looked forward to the crafting of a legally binding protocol that would arise from the talks.
"Negotiations for such a protocol, which would allow the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) to verify whether States Parties are adhering to the treaty’s ban on biological weapons production and stockpiling, broke down in 2001 and had been unable to move forward, until last week," the country's diplomatic office in Geneva said in its press release.
Following nearly a month of review conference that was held starting November, the Permanent Mission said a working group to determine issues related to BWC was established.
"The new working group will conduct talks in the next two to five years and aim to agree on concrete recommendations that could potentially include the initiation of formal protocol negotiations," it said.
The conference was held under the presidency of Italian Ambassador Leonardo Bencini, who then tasked Philippine Ambassador Maria Teresa Almojuela to facilitate discussions.
"The meeting also saw intense discussions on issues related to scientific developments and international cooperation," the diplomatic office said.
"The latter issue had long been hampered by differences related to export controls, but the conference saw positions on this issue evolve, leading to an agreement to develop mechanisms to facilitate scientific advice and international cooperation and assistance in the context of the BWC," it added.
Philippine Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Evan Garcia said the recent Covid-19 pandemic "was a stirring reminder that the outbreak of any infectious disease—whether deliberate, accidental, or natural—knows no borders and imperils us all."
He said it exposed "the lack of established mechanisms to facilitate effective and coordinated response to such an outbreak and to verify instances of a possible biological accident, misuse or attack."
In September, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. told his fellow leaders from the United Nations that there was a "the need to update global structures" on the peaceful uses of biology, among others.