The International Federation of Biosafety Associations (IFBA), alongside its network of biosafety associations and partners, continue to jointly implement activities designed to strengthen biological security across the Latin America/Caribbean (LAC) region. Most recently, an IFBA/LAC delegation, including included two participants from IFBA’s LAC Mentorship Program, participated in the Sixth Session of the Working Group on the Strengthening of the Biological Weapons Convention between August 12-15, 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland. In addition to attending the plenary meeting and its associated events, the delegation engaged with the Youth for Biosecurity Fellows in collaboration with UNODA representatives during their field visit to Geneva. The IFBA’s Senior Program Officer presented the IFBA’s existing program successes and future strategic planning to the Global Partnership’s Biological Security Working Group.

Complementing these efforts, a National Biosafety & Biosecurity Strategy Workshop was co-hosted with the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru from August 20-22, 2025. The workshop opened with remarks from Louis Marcotte, Canada’s Ambassador to Peru and Bolivia. The event brought together multisectoral government representatives from five Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Peru) who advanced through a stepwise approach for managing biological safety and security risks in their respective countries. The inaugural meeting to establish the new Asociación Peruana de Bioseguridad y Bioprotección (APBB), held on August 21st in Lima, Peru, marking the culmination of recent LAC project activities.

For further details, please contact the IFBA’s LAC Regional Program Coordinator, Sacha Wallace-Sankarsign at s.wallace@internationalbiosafety.org

This project is implemented with support from the Weapons Threat Reduction Program, Global Affairs Canada.

IFBA Delegates to BWC Meeting, Geneva, Switzerland, August 2025

Inaugural meeting of the Asociación Peruana de Bioseguridad y Bioprotección (APBB)

Participants of the National Biosafety Biosecurity Workshop, Lima, Peru, August 2025

Ambassador Louis Marcotte Opening Address to Peru Workshop Participants