The Andhra Pradesh Government has signed MoUs with the US state of Iowa and Thailand to promote the biotech sector. The cooperation would be in research projects, exchange of scientists and teaching professionals, and application of biotechnology in mutually beneficial areas. The MoUs were signed at Washington DC where a high-level delegation from the state was attending the International Biotech Conference BIO-2003.

The agreement with Iowa was signed by the Minister for Biotechnology and SSI, B Gopalakrishna Reddy, and Iowa Governor Thomas V Vilsack.

According to a government press release in Hyderabad, Vilsack had mentioned about the advances made by the state in the fields of agri-biotechnology and bio-medical research. He also recalled the contribution of Dr Norman Borlaug, who belonged to Iowa, towards the green revolution in India.

The agreement with Thailand was signed by B P Acharya, AP Industries Secretary, and Pornchai, Vice-Chancellor of Mahidol University, Bangkok. The MoU covers the fields of marine biotechnology and biotech applications for aquaculture and tropical medicine.

Earlier the AP delegation had signed an MoU with the Canadian province of Saskatchewan with focus on crop, animal and environmental biotechnology.

Besides the Minister and the Industries Secretary, the delegation includes Dr D Balasubramanian, Chairman, AP State Biotech Advisory Board and Director of L V Prasad Eye Institute, and S Dhawan, CEO, S&P Biotech Park, and CII officials.