A meeting was held with international experts on promising geographical indications

On September 27, 2021, within the framework of the implementation of the regional program of the European Union "Central Asia – Invest", representatives of Kazpatent met with international experts on the registration of appellations of origin of goods and the definition of promising geographical indications.

The Central Asia Invest Program was launched by the European Union in 2007 to strengthen regional cooperation and support private sector development in five Central Asian countries, with a special focus on small and medium-sized enterprises.

In 2020, seven new projects were funded under this program, including the "CANDY V" project – regional integration and capacity building for improving the competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in agribusiness and trade facilitation in Central Asia.

The goal of the CANDY V project is to develop agricultural MSMEs in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan by simplifying trade procedures, reducing costs, expanding the capabilities of MSMEs, increasing competitiveness and productivity, enhancing innovation and growth.

This project is implemented by a consortium led by the Austrian organization Hilfswerk International, and in Kazakhstan the project partner is the Kazakhstan Association of Sugar, Food and Processing Industry.

During the meeting, international experts represented by Pascal Bernardoni, a consultant for REDD France, and Hilfswerk International, a Regional Manager for Central Asia - Stoyanko Manolcheva, as well as the President of the Kazakhstan Association of Sugar, Food and Processing Industry, Aizhan Naurzgaliyeva, said that during the year the project partners and related interested Kazakhstani producers selected products that can be registered as an appellations of origin and geographical indication, and as a result, 1 product was selected, namely Almaty Aport.

Kazpatent experts presented a presentation on the features and differences of such intellectual property objects as appellations of origin and geographical indications, on the procedure for registering the appellations of origin in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Also during the meeting, Deputy Director of Kazpatent Aydin Artykova noted that a draft law is currently being considered in the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, according to which a new object of intellectual property – a geographical indication-is being introduced as a tool for promoting local products and developing the tourism industry, which was also drawn the attention of international experts. Kazpatent, together with local executive bodies, has started work on the promotion of local brands as appellations of origin.

According to the project partners, the promotion of the Almaty aport as the name of the place of origin of goods, and subsequently as a geographical indication, will increase the recognition of the region and will contribute to the development of tourism.

Following the results of this meeting, the parties expressed mutual interest in each other's activities, discussed the world practice in the field of promoting the appellations of origin and geographical indications, monitoring the quality of manufactured goods after the registration procedure is completed, and also agreed on further close cooperation on the registration of the Almaty aport as an appellations of origin.