The Steering Committee of the Twinning Project Held the Final Meeting

Members of the Steering Committee of the EU-funded Twinning Project for institutional cooperation between Public Administrations discussed the 10th and 11th quarterly reports in the remote mode. The 9th quarterly report completed the Project “Establishing Efficient Protection and Control System of Geographical Indications (GIs) in Georgia”, being implemented by the main beneficiary, the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia-Sakpatenti with the support of the European Union since 2019. 

During the recent months, according to the action plan of the project, the drafts of memorandums were elaborated between Sakpatenti and internet platforms Amazon, Ebay, Alibaba and Rakuten, which will serve to eliminate the facts of counterfeiting of Georgian geographical indication products in the digital world. In addition, the draft Memorandum was also prepared between Sakpatenti and the Ministry of Agriculture of Italy as well as the National Institute for Origin and Quality of France (INAO) in order to start the cooperation. The latter will assist the office in the process of establishment of the National Commission on Geographical Indications, which will have the analogous role and functions compared with the entity operating at the Institute. 

At the meeting, the communication materials, such as the logo of geographical indications and appellations of origin, video, tutorials and website developed within the Project were presented to the participants. Along with this, based on the necessities of public agencies and producers’ unions or associations, the reports on the trainings, working meetings, certification simulations and various activities carried out for improving the qualification were submitted to the Committee members.

At the meeting of the Steering Committee, attended by the Project leaders and representatives of the agencies involved in the project implementation, the 10th and the 11th quarterly reports were signed and the results of the Project were assessed. 

The EU-funded project was estimated to be completed in January 2021, however, due to the pandemic situation throughout the world and related restrictions, the Project was prolonged with an additional 7-months period based on the agreement with the European partners. The above-mentioned will help Georgia to develop unique marketing instrument and Geographical Indications system more effectively and to make full use of the related benefits.