The Republic of Moldova and Georgia signed on February 1, this year, the Agreement on Mutual Recognition and Protection of Geographical Indications (GI). The document was signed by Eugeniu Rusu, Director General of the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI) and Soso Giorgadze, President of the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia (SAKPATENTI).

The signing of the Agreement took place in the context of the working visit of the Director General of AGEPI to Tbilisi, Georgia.

The initiative to negotiate and sign the aforesaid agreement belongs to both contracting parties, as a result of bilateral meetings between intellectual property offices in the context of cooperation relations established according to the Memorandum of Understanding between the State Agency on Intellectual Property and the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia (SAKPATENTI), signed in Chisinau, on June 3, 2013.

The negotiations on the Agreement were initiated by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Moldova No. 415-VIII of October 30, 2017, and its proper signing was approved by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Moldova No. 756-IX of December 22, 2022.

AGEPI was actively involved in the process of negotiating the text of the Agreement, in the elaboration of the lists of geographical indications from the Republic of Moldova, the protection of which is to be provided on the basis of the mentioned act. Also, the geographical indications submitted by Georgia were subjected to public consultations in the Republic of Moldova, so that interested persons could submit objections or proposals.

The signing of the document in question will contribute to expanding the fields of cooperation between the Republic of Moldova and Georgia and will establish a safe and effective mechanism for the protection of geographical indications registered by the signatory parties, in order to provide domestic producers with the necessary legal framework to access new foreign markets.