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