A regional biological weapons convention workshop was held on Wednesday in Fiji's third largest city Nadi with the aim of promoting the global benchmark of the convention.

According to a government statement, Fiji's Ministry of Defence and National Security Permanent Secretary Osea Cawaru said that threats posed by biological weapons are real, and promoting the universality of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) is only possible through a united effort at national, sub regional and regional platforms, to curb and address any forms of biological threats.

"Evidently, the world has entered a new era of biological threats due to extraordinary changes brought by globalization, growing agricultural demands, the diffusion of advanced biotechnologies and insufficient reporting of outbreaks," he said.

In mitigation, public health scholars have proven that response and preparedness strategies have largely shifted from being primarily reactive to traditional biological weapons to more proactive in nature, he said.

"Like other developing countries, I firmly believe that we understand the importance of establishing partnership with regional and sub-regional states parties to effectively implement the Convention. We can be resilient in our shared values, beliefs and collective efforts can contribute to the overall objective of a secure region by realizing the unprecedented threats confronting our region," Cawaru said.