Indonesia Readies Agency to Monitor WMD Materials

Indonesia plans to create an agency that will monitor the use of chemical, biological and nuclear materials and examine ways of dealing with WMD attacks, Research and Technology Minister Hatta Rajasa said today, (see GSN, April 14).

“Research in the life sciences industry can be misused to develop biological weapons but the same research [is] needed to develop medicine, vaccines and technology needed to deal with the threat of bioterrorism as well as natural diseases,” Rajasa said, according to Agence France-Presse.

Indonesian Economics Minister Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti said he hopes a presidential decree will be issued this year forming the new agency (Agence France-Presse, May 5).

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