Prof. Ramlan Aziz, Director of Institute of Bioproduct Development (IBD) has been invited by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the Hague, Netherlands to speak and become a panelist at The Conference on the International Cooperation and Chemical Safety and Security on 12-13 September 2011 at the Hague.
He was proposed by the National Authority on Chemical Weapons Convention Malaysia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Wisma Putra) and recommended by OPCW to represent Malaysia and speak on ‘Industry Applications of Natural Products Chemistry’.
The topic will cover IBD’s experience in developing herbal business chain from upstream (farming, preprocessing), midstream (processing, formulation, testing, manufacturing) to downstream (distribution, sales, wellness centres) in Malaysia.
OPCW has asked Prof Ramlan to propose international cooperation programme to develop similar model in other developed and underdeveloped countriesf rom among 153 member countries through training and joint research programmes in natural product chemistry to develop wellness products.
He will also share IBD’s experience in developing a socioeconomic outreach programme “from farm to shelf” to uplift the well being of small and medium scale entrepreneurs, rural folks, single mothers, etc.
This recognition has put UTM on the world map, especially on efforts done by IBD not only in research work related to natural product chemistry but also the sosiao-economy value derived from the initiative for the well being of the community at large.
