Socio-economic concerns and risk assessment of Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) have dominated the deliberations at the ongoing Bio-safety conference in Hyderabad.

The 6th edition of Meeting of the Parties, being held as prelude to the UN conference on Bio-diversity, witnessed elaborate discussions as several countries expressed concerns over LMOs and their management and safety issues.

The Deputy Secretary to the Convention on Bio-diversity, Charles Gbedemah told media this morning that the deliberations over Cartegena Protocol and Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol are progressing successfully.

He said, the five-day bio-safety conference which will conclude today, will adopt decisions on 18 aspects. He further said, the implementation of Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redressal was low due to absence of legal frameworks in several member countries.

He added that financial mobilization to ensure compliance to the Protocol is another area of concern. However, the Deputy Secretary opined that there is sufficient political will to implement the Protocol as more than 75% of signatories are taking part in the deliberations.

Mr Charles said, the member countries taking part in the deliberations made proactive efforts to arrive at consensus on several contentious issues. He expressed satisfaction that the present conference witnessed more public participation unlike the previous ones.