The representative of the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies and Informest met on 14th and 15th July in Rome for the coordination of the project implementation and the next activities, since all the business missions are held on-line. The emergency linked to COVID-19 has not stopped the activities of the Twinning project in Georgia in favor of the National Center for Intellectual Property of Georgia – “Sakpatenti”. Thanks to a special permission obtained by the European Commission, the experts of the Italian Ministry, together with the French counterpart, have carried out 230 days of teleworking mission to complete the evaluation of the Georgian primary and secondary legislation on GI products and by launching the first guidelines for the international protection of Georgian GIs, both on the domestic and foreign market and on the main online food trade platforms.

An important task that will lead by the first half of 2021 to the definition of the specifications for the registration of four new GIs or GIs already registered which incorporate control mechanisms (external and internal) for as many categories: dairy products, food products, vegetables and wine, with the development of the manuals and procedures relating to the registration process of GI products and guidelines for the preparation of the specifications for the registration itself.

Coordinated by the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food, Forestry and Tourism Policies (MiPAAFT), through the Central Inspectorate for Quality Protection and Fraud Repression of Agri-Food Products – ICQRF, the administrative Twinning project in Georgia aims to support the development of the system of controlled designations of origin and geographical indications (GI) in Georgia through the creation of effective tools to support the administrative, control and sanctioning system of products with controlled designation of origin, in line with the most recent European provisions in the field. 

Informest has the role of mandated body, managing the administrative and financial aspects and supporting the MiPAAF in the implementation of the entire project that has a budget of   € 1.5 million.