An agreement signed between Sakpatenti and Ministry of Agriculture

The Sakpatenti National Intellectual Property Center and the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia has signed an agreement in order to support the development of protected geographical indications for Georgian products.

"In order Georgian products to have a higher quality and to be better positioned on EU markets it is very important to implement a project of protected geographical indications for Georgian products,” said Head of Sakpatenti, Nikoloz Goglidze after signing the agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture.

Nowadays, more than 30 types of products produced in Georgia are applied for geographical indications. The majority of such products are exported abroad.

Within the framework of the European Neighborhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD), four new geographical indications specifications prepared for registration. These geographical indications were prepared for potatoes from Akhalkalaki (a town in Georgia's southern region of Samtskhe-Javakheti), marinade from Kutaisi (Georgia’s second largest city in Western region), tea from Tkibuli (a town in west-central Georgia) and honey from Machakhela (Adjara region). There were established four associations of using these names, announced Sakpatenti.

ENPARD is a policy initiative, which recognizes the importance of agriculture in terms of food security, sustainable production and rural employment.

The duration of the programme is five years (January 2012 – January 2016). It focuses on: setting up information and consultation centres for farmers in rural districts, helping the government for the adoption of laws promoting the cooperation amongst farmers and providing rural development grants to support farmers in gaining economies of scale.

The programme aims at enhancing technical assistance that will strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture to carry out the reforms foreseen in the Agriculture Strategy Georgia, for the period 2014-2020, the Georgian government adopted in May 2012.

ENPARD for Georgia is worth 52 Million Euros. (Agenda.ge)