Speaking during a press conference on the challenges and prospects for 2016 and the events of 2015, Mr. Kougialis said that the primary goal is to register halloumi as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) product with the aim of protecting it from imitation and unfair competition.
We are in the final stage of the registration process, he said, and expressed the hope "that by the summer we will have achieved this great goal".
Mr. Kougialis stated that halloumi has begun to conquer international markets in recent years and said that its patenting will create a product of high commercial value, which will be able to penetrate more easily in international markets and will create new data for the economy of Cyprus. .
He added that in the short and long term all sectors of the agricultural economy, agriculture, livestock, cheese-making, but also trade in general will benefit the most. That is why, he said, measures are being promoted to increase sheep and goat milk production.
Answering questions, he said that we are now in the process of consulting with those who have submitted objections.
He said that the General Director of the Ministry has been assigned to study these objections and to consult with all those who have submitted objections and added that this will be done in the next short period of time. Then, when the consultations are completed, the Minister will inform the Directorate-General for Agriculture in Brussels.
Asked where he supports his optimism, he said that he supports it in the fact that the file we have submitted is complete, and added that of course we expected all these objections, as this guarantee affects important financial interests inside and outside Cyprus.
"But the work that has been done by my colleagues in the Ministry in the past years has been excellent, which makes it easier for me to do the political manipulation in order to achieve the patronage," he noted.
Mr. Kougialis stated that there are 9 private objections coming from the UK, Turkey, New Zealand, Australia, Kuwait and the USA.
He noted that these are individuals and are not supported by the countries of origin of the producers.
Asked what the Turks are saying, Mr. Kougialis said that they are raising issues of internal procedure that we followed before sending the file to Brussels.
Other products follow
According to the Minister, we hope that the patenting of halloumi and other agricultural products will give a new impetus to rural and local development.
Mr. Kougialis stated that the registration of ten other agri-food products is being promoted, such as the Sweet Rose of the Field, Kolokasi Sotiras / Kolokasi-Poules Sotiras, Pitsilias Pork, Possirti, Pitsilias Pike, Pitsilia Sausage, Rodostagma Agrou.
"The registration will give identity to our products, will highlight the quality offered by the Cypriot land, as well as the rich Cypriot gastronomy, thus strengthening the tourist product of Cyprus," he said.
He said that we have already registered the sausage, there are two other applications before the Commission and expressed the belief that the registration will be achieved soon because there are no objections to Kolokasi-Poules Sotiras and the Field Rose. The other five applications, he added, are in the final stages of being evaluated by the advisory committee at the Ministry and the Director General will soon submit other dossiers for forwarding to the EU.
"I consider it very important to secure these products because they create local development and because they must be prepared in specific areas and from products coming from these areas. So new small and medium enterprises are created with these patents, new jobs and we are finally given the opportunity to put a stamp on our tourism product, to promote our gastronomy and I believe that it will help us to go better in the field of tourism in this field. concluded.
Source: KYPE