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The project, which was carried out between May, 2013 and December, 2015 by Binh Thuan Dragon Fruit Association (BTA) with the assistance of the provincial department of Science & Technology, has helped many exporters in Binh Thuan get support on geographical indications. Beneficiary companies include BinhThuan Fruits & Greens, Phu Hoi organic dragon fruit service cooperative, Kim Hai dragon fruit farm, etc.
According to Director of department of Science and Technology Van Cong Thoi, the project has contributed to improving the values of dragon fruit products, particularly high price and expanded market. At the same time, Binh Thuan’s dragon fruit can be identified as it is sold in foreign markets. Stamping geographical indications also helps maintain the reputation of Binh Thuan’s dragon fruit then contributes to promoting and extending the brandnames of Binh Thuan dragon fruit and dragon fruit exporters as well. Through this project, the awareness of local producers and exporters about the implementation of geographical indications has been enhanced. Therefore, stamping geographical indications have been conducted by many enterprises so far.
However, stamping geographical indication still faces many challenges due to elevated price and neglect of some export partners. Currently, the large amount of Binh Thuan’s dragon fruit is exported to Chineses markets under the cross-border trading form, and most of the fruit is packed with Chinese label. For that reason, functional bodies in Binh Thuan are promoting effort to raise dragon fruit producers’ awareness of the importance of geographical indications. There must be concrete regulations on stamping geographical indications for Binh Thuan’s dragon fruit in order to protect this local speciality.
The provincial People’s Committee has directed department of Science & Technology in collaboration with other relevant agencies to help Binh Thuan Dragon Fruit Association complete geographical indication registration for dragon fruit exported to existing and potential countries/territories. Binh Thuan dragon fruit is one of 4 local specialities (besides Hoa Loc mango, Buon Ma Thuot coffee and Lang Son star aniseed), which have been chosen to be register for geographical indication to European markets under the assitance of National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam and EU- MUTRAP project Vietnam. Lately (May, 2018), dragon fruit along with Luc Ngan Lychee and Buon Ma Thuot coffee have been selected to be given geographical indication registration when exported to Japan. Up to now, dragon fruits bearing the geographical indication “Binh Thuan Dragon Fruit” have been registed for export to 14 countries. Currently, Binh Thuan dragon fruit is protected in 12 countries/territories, including the US, Great Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand.
Source: Binhthuan Newspaper (Translated by Phuong Lan)
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