Head of the Genebank of Estonian Crop Research Institute Külli Annamaa participates on the meeting of the International Advisory Panel of Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

Külli Annamaa was nominated as a member of the Advisory Panel for 2020-2021.

The meeting reviewed the management and procedures of the Seed Vault, the implementation of the new security routines, the status of the construction upgrades, the strategies for making the best use of media and public interests of the Seed Vault, and the initiation of the long-term seed vitality test (duration 100 years).

The Advisory Panel consists of 7 members and shall be chaired Ms Yasmina El Bahloul (Morocco), Chairperson of the Bureau of the Ninth Governing Body of the International Treaty.

Today, in Svalbard will be held a summit of high-level officials and representatives of delegations. The summit will be followed by a ceremony of deposition of 60 000 accessions from 36 gene banks to the Seed Vault.

The first set of seeds from the Genebank of Estonian Crop Research Institute was deposited in 2018.