The Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs, the Intellectual Property Office of Mongolia (IPOM), the European Union (EU), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) are co-organizing “Importance of Geographical Indications (GI)” conference on 26, 27 September 2022 in Ulaanbaatar.

Geographical Indication (GI) is an intellectual property right protecting the name of those products which have developed unique characteristics due to a mix of local natural or human induced factors through the use of producers’ local knowledge/know- how. The GI can be expressed as a single geographical name/origin of the product, or in combination with the name of a product. For example, "Bordeaux" wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France is a well-known GI product all over the world.

In Mongolia, sea buckthorn grown in Uvs province was registered as “Uvs sea buckthorn” GI in the European Union in January 2022. During the past decade, interest in an enhanced protection of GIs has increased worldwide.

Especially in Asia, countries have increasingly put in place sui generis GI national laws and registration systems resulting to over 3700 GI products being already registered in the region. For instance: black pepper grown in Kampot province of Cambodia was sold for 4.50 USD per kg in 2009, but after it was registered as GI in 2018 the price increased to 15 USD per kg. Also, with the GI, the name of the area has become well-known for domestic and international tourists.

The aim of the conference is to build awareness and share international expertise about the role of geographical indications in Mongolian economy, creating marketing opportunities for agricultural products of distinguished quality and good reputation, improvement of the national GI system in place to reach international standards.

This conference is powered by the EU funded FAO and GIZ implemented “Sustainable Resilient Ecosystem and Agriculture Management in Mongolia” (STREAM) project that aims to support the development of new geographical indications (GI) and the improvement of the existing GI system in Mongolia, thus aiming to contribute to the country's economy.

For further information:

· G. Pagmasuren, Communication Specialist of the STREAM project, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Email: [email protected] ; Phone: +976 95105095)

· Ch. Tselmeg, Press and Information Officer, The EU Delegation to Mongolia (Email: [email protected] ; Phone: +976 99630057)

· G. Telmen, Senior Specialist, Intellectual Property Office in Mongolia (Email: [email protected] ; Phone: +976 95881458)