A 2-million-USD project funded by the French Government to aid
Vietnam and other Mekong subregion countries to improve their legal
systems on geographical indication was launched at a ceremony in Hanoi
on June 25.
Implemented by the United Nations Food Agriculture
Organisation (FAO), the project is expect to foster information exchange
and set links between state-owned areas and private ones to promote
Vietnam’s products with geographical indications registered in
regional and international markets.
Michel Drobniak from the
French Embassy in Vietnam said the three-year project will help
beneficiary countries further boost rural development through
developing geographical indication systems , noting that the
field is important for Vietnam, especially as the country has entered
into negotiations of free trade agreements with many partners in the
world.
Geographical indication is a sign used to identify where
a product originates from. The reputation of a product bearing
geographical indication is determined by the consumer creditworthiness
to that product.
Not only helping safeguard the patent
rights of famous traditional products of any country, geographical
indication also assists consumers to easily access high-quality
products.
Besides, geographical indication increases
advantages of a regional product that similar products outside the
region cannot afford. Therefore, the normal selling price of a product
with geographical indication is often higher than that of other similar
products. In EU, sales of products with geographical indications have
accounted for billions of EUR.
There have been more than 120
geographical indication registered in Asia. It becomes a vital tool for
trade and rural development in many countries.
According to statistics, Vietnam has 38 products with registered geographical indications.-VNA