I am delighted to report that 2010 is proving to be a successful year for ICLS. We have re- ceived major new grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) that will enable the Council to build on its successes. From a personal point of view, these grants have al- lowed me to devote my energies full time to our projects and future development. I am fortunate to have a capable and dedicated team to enable ICLS to strengthen even further our contribution to the effort to advance the safe and secure conduct of the life sciences.

In the wider Middle East and North Africa (from Morocco in the west to Pakistan in the east) the ICLS effort to promote regional coopera- tion in developing national biosafety and bi- osecurity strategies has made important strides forward. Launched at a regional conference in 2007 in Abu Dhabi the Biosafety and Biose- curity International Conference (BBIC) proc- ess now has a system of governance through a Steering Committee that was initiated un- der the presidency of Morocco at the BBIC meeting in Casablanca in April 2009, and now the baton has been passed to Jordan. Through the Royal Scientific Society, Jordan will lead the BBIC process to the next region- al conference in Amman in May 2011 and beyond to 2012. Led from within the region, but drawing as needed from expertise out- side, the BBIC process is now yielding practi- cal results. It is a model that, I believe, could be developed in other regions of the world.

ICLS continues to advance its work in promot- ing best practices in Russia and Central Asia and other regions, developing strategies for biological risk assessment and for the safe, se- cure and ethical conduct of synthetic biology. In regard to the latter I am particularly pleased that we have formed an institutional link with the European-based International Association for Synthetic Biology (IASB) that has developed a code of conduct for best practices in gene synthesis. In the same spirit, I am proud that ICLS is associated with a new project in Pakistan to promote the responsible conduct of science. With leadership from within the country, this exciting endeavour, that covers all the physi- cal sciences, was launched in June this year.

None of these achievements would have been possible without the invaluable profes- sional and technical advice of ICLS supporters. I cannot name them all but I must pay particu- lar tribute to James Tunkey and Rainer Wessel (ICLS Board members), as well as Dr Anwar Nasim (Pakistan) and Professor Khalid Temsam- ani (Morocco). These incredibly busy people somehow find time to lend advice and sup- port when needed. Equally vital to our success is the inspirational leadership that has been superbly provided by HRH Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan (Jordan) and HE Majid Al Man- souri (Abu Dhabi). We, and our partners, have also benefited greatly from technical support provided by experts from, among others, the US Centers for Disease Control and Preven- tion, the UK Health Protection Agency, the World Health Organisation, Emory University and the University of Texas (Medical Branch).

Finally, nothing is possible without financial sup- port. In addition to the substantial grants from the foundations mentioned above ICLS has been fortunate to receive grants for its activi- ties from the Robert and Ardis James Founda- tion, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Rus- sell J. Fuller Family Foundation, the Foundation for Environmental Security and Sustainability, the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi, the UK government, the Islamic Development Bank, the Standing Committee on Science and Technology of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (COMSTECH), the Paki- stan Academy of Sciences, the Kingdom of Morocco, the Islamic Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organisation and a number of individual private donors. I thank them all.

Terence Taylor
President