The AMIGA consortium is organising the first Stakeholders meeting that will take place on the 24th May 2012 at the project coordinator’s premises, ENEA, in Brussels, Belgium. Selected representatives from EFSA, European institutions, farmers associations, NGOs and national competent authorities will participate to interact and contribute to the discussion around the possible environmental and economic impacts of cultivation of GM plants that are relevant to European cultivation. The attendance is by invitation only.
The AMIGA consortium represented by three partners of the Management Board (ENEA, INRA, MINERVA) will present to the participants an overview of the project, including objectives and main activities.
The experimental work planned for the AMIGA project will include an established process for defining standardized methods and procedures for Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) and Post Marketing Environmental Monitoring (PMEM) of GM crops in Europe in the near future. Implications for the regulatory process in Europe are also considered, due to the contribution of AMIGA project in testing the EFSA Guidelines, which represent a corner stone of the process. It is therefore paramount that principal stakeholders are continuously informed about ongoing activities to collaborate and discuss forthcoming results.
The permanent Stakeholders Consultation Platform (SCP) has turned to be a fundamental actor to the implementation of the AMIGA project, since it acts as a flexible, transparent and effective means of interaction between the Management Board and selected relevant stakeholders. The SCP will be convened once a year. The structure of these meetings is organized in order to enable participants to interact and contribute to the interpretation of the results, the practicability of the outcomes and their effective transfer to the interested parties.