Joint statement by the Ministers of Agriculture of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, September 2018 ^[1]
GENETIC EDITING TECHNIQUES

SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL COUNCIL (CAS) XXXV REGULAR MEETING

CAS / Council, Declaration II (XXXV 2018} Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 20, 2018

Original. Spanish

Declaration of the Ministers:

The Ministers of Agriculture of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, members of the Southern Agricultural Council (CAS), meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1. Gene-improved crops have the potential to play a critical role in addressing the challenges faced by agricultural production, helping to increase the supply of food and other agricultural products in a sustainable way.
2. Gene editing can generate crops analogous to those obtained through other conventional breeding methods.
3. The CAS countries present an important public and private investment in the development of crops improved by genetic editing. This is because it can accelerate the access of the agricultural producer and the consumer to new characteristics of productive and agro-industrial interest; at the same time, it represents an opportunity for the transfer of technologies developed by the national institutes of agricultural research and biotechnological SMEs.
4. Arbitrary and unjustifiable distinctions between agricultural products obtained by gene editing and those obtained through other improvement methods should be avoided.

 Declare that:

1. They will exchange information on product development and existing regulatory frameworks applicable to them, exploring science-based opportunities for regional and international regulatory harmonization.
2. They will endeavour to work jointly and with third countries to avoid scientifically based obstacles to the trade in agricultural products improved by single publishing.