The Workshop, the 4th event of an ongoing international initiative, aimed to creating a working environment in which national and multinational biosafety and security mechanisms are discussed.
In particular, our goals were to:

• Analyze what is already being done and recommend how mechanisms to strengthening  biosafety and biosecurity can be improved and expanded to different countries and regions.
• Give special emphasis on what further concrete actions can be undertaken by the international community and in engaging scientists in these initiatives.
• Cope biosafety/biosecurity with the biotechnology revolution, investigating mechanism to share opportunities and responsibilities in a constructive way, looking also at potential cooperation with bio-defense programs implemented worldwide and particularly in Europe.
• Create a platform in which participants will interact with one another in a constructive manner to learn from each other's experience and the experience of their respective countries and agencies, with a view to potential collaborations.

A very important spin-off of this worlshop has been the Consensus Statement for Priority Actions for the Promotion of Global Biosecurity, released on November 15th. In this statement, six internationally recognized experts authored a five-point document for the global community to enhance biosecurity worldwide.