Thank you Chair for giving me the floor. 

Rapid advances in bioscience and technology present us with new and exciting opportunities in various fields of human endeavour. Undertakings that were expensive and complicated only a few decades ago, can be done in a fraction of the time and with limited budget today. 

However, they also increase the potential for misuse due to dual-use applications of knowhow and technology. And precisely because these developments are so rapid and so difficult to predict, the Convention must be made future-proof and to keep up pace with the latest scientific and technological developments, not only regarding the aspects that provide us with reasons for concern, but also with regard to the promising ones. This requires the productive and structural engagement of technical and scientific experts with the work of the Convention. 

Draft measures contained in section B of the Rolling Text  
Chair, my delegation appreciates today’s opportunity to reflect on section B of the Rolling Text. This part is certainly moving in the right direction, but in our view, it will benefit from some further clarifications. So, please allow me to come up with a few suggestions from our national perspective.

Let me start with paragraph 7, it recommends the strengthening of cooperation among States Parties and other relevant stakeholders through i.a. briefings and exchanges. However, there is no guidance as to the platform in which these should take place. It would be useful to clarify this in a future iteration of the text. 

Paragraph 8 recommends the exploration of measures for national governance of biological risks, and this raises the question how this relates to National Implementation, in particular paragraphs 32 and 34, which call more generally for the strengthening, reviewing and implementation of national legislation, as well as the promotion of synergies and complementarity between relevant initiatives. The Netherlands would be interested in ensuring the coherence between these paragraphs. 

Chair, in our view the Rolling Text could benefit from streamlining, by combining for example paragraphs 10 and 11, as they cover similar themes, in this case on the importance of staying abreast of future developments in the context of bioscience and technology. 

We would also like to express support for paragraph 13. In our view, the complexity and fast-changing nature of the subject matter make the organization of regular intersessional briefings and information sessions most useful. As mentioned in our comments on paragraph 7, we would like to see language on how and in what format these briefings will be organized. 

Finally, it would be helpful to specify how the recommendations in paragraphs 10, 11 and 13 would relate to the work of a future S&T Mechanism. 

I thank you Chair.