India, which is party to the biodiversity convention, must negotiate with determination and work to forge a developing country strategy while finalising the protocol, Gene Campaign, a Delhi-based NGO, said in a statement. UNEP called the extraordinary conference of parties to the convention on biological diversity to renew efforts to finalise a biosafety protocol.

The biosafety protocol aims to formulate international rules to control the transportation, handling and use of GMOs. Gene Campaign convenor Suman Sahai said in the statement that though the biosafety protocol should have concluded in February 1999, talks collapsed mainly due to the US opposition. The US and some grain exporting countries calling themselves the Miami Group rejected environmental controls and insisted that countries cannot refuse imports of genetically modified food on grounds of environmental and health safety.