{"id":24922,"date":"2023-04-04T12:37:38","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T10:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/?p=24922"},"modified":"2023-05-11T13:19:41","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T11:19:41","slug":"agrosmart-global-participates-in-the-5th-edition-of-the-arepo-european-event-on-quality-products-and-origin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/en\/2023\/04\/04\/agrosmart-global-participates-in-the-5th-edition-of-the-arepo-european-event-on-quality-products-and-origin\/","title":{"rendered":"AGROSMARTglobal participates in the 5th edition of the AREPO European Event on quality products and origin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On March 30<sup>th<\/sup>, 2023, AREPO &#8211; Association of European Regions for Products of Origin &#8211; held in Brussels the <strong>5<sup>th<\/sup> edition of the \u201cEuropean Event on Quality and Origin Products\u201d<\/strong>, organised in the framework of the Interreg Sudoe project AGROSMARTglobal, to raise awareness on the importance of quality and origin products for EU agriculture and to stimulate the discussion on the challenges ahead for the sector.<\/p>\n<p>The AGROSMARTglobal project \u201cSpace for the competitiveness, promotion and intelligent international expansion of agri-food cooperatives in the Sudoe rural areas\u201d, cofinanced by the Interreg Sudoe programme, aims to support the digital internationalisation of agri-food cooperatives and producer associations in South West Europe (Sudoe) and to promote and protect quality and origin products on the international digital market.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"5th edition of AREPO&#039;s EU event on quality and origin products in the framework of AGROSMARTglobal!\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VAqZsmZRK9c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The event, which took place at the common house in Brussels of three AREPO member regions, Hesse, Emilia-Romagna and Nouvelle Aquitaine, opened in the afternoon with the conference <strong><em>\u201cThe future challenges for Geographical Indications\u201d<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>It was introduced by AREPO President, <strong>Ms Bego\u00f1a Garc\u00eda Bernal<\/strong>, Regional Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development, Population and Territory of the Extremadura region, and <strong>MEP Paolo De Castro <\/strong>(S&amp;D), member of the Agricultural and Rural Committee of the European Parliament and rapporteur on the revision of the EU Geographical Indications (GIs) system.<\/p>\n<p>This 5<sup>th<\/sup> edition was an occasion <em>\u201cto witness the incredible variety and quality of the agri-food products and wines of our regions, expression of our culture, traditions, the specific skills of the producers of our territories and the specific qualities and characteristics of our territories\u201d, <\/em>stated Ms Garc\u00eda Bernal, who wanted this conference to be <em>\u201ca space to reflect on the opportunities, priorities and challenges lying ahead for GIs and on which we must work together, European, national, local institutions and citizens\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The first part of the conference was dedicated to <strong><em>\u201cTools and strategies for the protection of quality and origin products\u201d. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-24909 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/20230330_AGROSMARTglobal-bruxelas-7-300x225.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/20230330_AGROSMARTglobal-bruxelas-7-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/20230330_AGROSMARTglobal-bruxelas-7-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/20230330_AGROSMARTglobal-bruxelas-7-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/20230330_AGROSMARTglobal-bruxelas-7-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/20230330_AGROSMARTglobal-bruxelas-7.jpeg 2016w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Particularly, <strong>Ms Carmen Rodr\u00edguez, <\/strong>President of AGACA (Association of Agri-Food Cooperatives of Galicia and coordinating entity of AGROSMARTglobal), presented the objectives and results of the Interreg Sudoe project AGROSMARTglobal. In the framework of this project, <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/en\/protection-of-ig-online\/\"><strong>a practical guide on the protection of geographical indications on the Internet has been produced<\/strong><\/a><\/span>. It was presented during the event by <strong>Mr\u00a0Arnaud Lellinger<\/strong>, Co-founder of LLF Avocats (intellectual property law firm), who contributed to the elaboration of this guide on behalf of AREPO together with <strong>Ms Anne Clermontelle<\/strong>, consultant for AREPO in charge of EU projects and manager of ACL Strat\u00e9gies (agri-food strategy consultancy specialised in EU quality schemes) and <strong>Ms Audrey Aubard<\/strong>, manager of Aubard Consulting (intellectual property consultancy) and Secretary General of AFIGIA.<\/p>\n<p>The session, introduced by <strong>Mr Riccardo Deserti<\/strong>, General Director of the Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano and President of oriGIn International, also provided an opportunity to reflect on <strong>the issue of the attribution of domain names and GIs and the role of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in improving GIs protection on the Internet<\/strong>, through the presentations delivered by <strong>Mr Massimo Vittori<\/strong>, General Director of oriGIn, and <strong>Ms Katarina Kompari<\/strong>, IP legal specialist at EUIPO.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>The second part of the conference, was dedicated to the ongoing revision of the EU GIs system. <\/strong>Objectives and expectations from future trilogues were discussed with the member of the European Parliament<strong> Anne Sander <\/strong>(Partit Popolari Ewropew), Quaestor of the European Parliament and member of the Agricultural and Rural Committee, and <strong>Mr Joao Onofre<\/strong>, Acting Director in charge of Outreach, Research &amp; Geographical Indications at DG Agri, European Commission.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-24905 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/20230330-representantes-rexionais_arepo-bruxelas-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/20230330-representantes-rexionais_arepo-bruxelas-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/20230330-representantes-rexionais_arepo-bruxelas-768x577.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/20230330-representantes-rexionais_arepo-bruxelas.jpg 779w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>A round table with the Ministers for Agriculture and regional Councillors of AREPO member regions, introduced by <strong>Ms Karine Gloanec Maurin<\/strong>, rapporteur on the opinion on GI revision for the European Committee of the Regions, and moderated by <strong>Ms Audrey Aubard<\/strong>, manager of Aubard Consulting and Secretary General of AFIGIA, allowed to debate on some priorities in the context of the revision of GIs and to provide food for thought for the future, in particular with regard to initiatives that the Commission will have to pursue in coming months.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ms Eirini Choudetsanaki<\/strong>, Vice-Governor of Crete; <strong>Mr Alessio Mammi<\/strong>, Regional Minister for Agriculture of Emilia-Romagna; <strong>Ms Patricia Maussion<\/strong>, Regional Councillor for Agriculture of Pays de la Loire in charge of Organic Farming and Official Quality Signs; <strong>Mr Marco protopapa<\/strong>, Regional Minister for Agriculture of Piemonte; <strong>Ms C. Cristina de Toro Navero<\/strong>, Director General of Industries, Innovation, and Agri-food Chain, Regional Government of Andaluc\u00eda; and <strong>Mr Simon Uzenat<\/strong>, Regional Councillor for public procurement, public purchasing and territorial food projects of Bretagne, strongly <strong>reaffirmed the role of EU quality schemes as rural development tools for EU regions, contributing to the EU&#8217;s social, economic and environmental priorities and to the creation of public goods<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>They reminded that GIs cannot be disconnected from the Common Agricultural Policy, from the long-term vision for rural areas, and must be promoted and protected accordingly.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, they called upon the European Institutions to provide with the necessary tools to properly valorise, promote and protect these products, and to support GI producers in demonstrating GIs contribution to the priority to consume and eat within planetary limits and preserve health.<\/p>\n<p>European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, <strong>Mr Janusz Wojciechowski<\/strong>, concluded the conference.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIn Europe, quality and origin are essential pillars of our culture, and our agriculture. Nowhere is this more evident than in our\u00a0<strong>system of geographical indications\u201d<\/strong><\/em><strong>, he stated c<\/strong>ongratulating AREPO on its role as champion of quality products and places of origin.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cBut of course, while the GI system has been sound and successful, there is always\u00a0<strong>scope for improvement<\/strong><strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>We live in a time of opportunities and challenges, in a globalised and more technology-driven world.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>If we wish to maintain the EU&#8217;s high food quality and standards, and ensure that our cultural, gastronomic and local heritage is protected and promoted, we need to strengthen our GI system.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>One year ago, the Commission adopted the review proposal.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI am counting on the co-legislators to reach a compromise soon on all outstanding issues of the GI review. It is my hope that the first trilogues could take place before summer break \u2013 so that we can have a stronger GI system in place as soon as possible.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I believe I have made it clear why a stronger system is needed: by strengthening our GI products, we are strengthening\u00a0<strong>rural economies<\/strong>\u00a0across the European Union, as well as our local\u00a0<strong>traditions<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>ecosystems<\/strong>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Together with AREPO President, he then inaugurated the tasting of quality and origin products from AREPO member Regions and agri-food cooperatives of the Sudoe.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The 2023 edition of the Event on Quality and Origin Products promoted products from 26 AREPO member Regions from 6 different EU countries and from 3 unions of agri-food cooperatives from the AGROSMARTglobal project &#8211; AGACA (union of agrifood cooperatives of Galicia), La Coop\u00e9ration Agricole Nouvelle-Aquitaine (union of agrifood cooperatives of New Aquitaine) and CONFAGRI (union of agrifood cooperatives of Portugal). <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This event, <strong>gathering together more than 350 participants<\/strong>, allowed to witness to the diversity and quality of EU agri-food products and wines under PDO, PGI, optional quality term \u201cMountain Product\u201d and Organic Farming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On March 30th, 2023, AREPO &#8211; Association of European Regions for Products of Origin &#8211; held in Brussels the 5th edition of the \u201cEuropean Event on Quality and Origin Products\u201d, organised in the framework of the Interreg Sudoe project AGROSMARTglobal, to raise awareness on the importance of quality and origin products for EU agriculture and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24922"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24922"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24998,"href":"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24922\/revisions\/24998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agrosmartglobal.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}