Europe will not fail in funding for the promotion of GI products. Good news for the Italian Dop-economy, which is worth almost 17 billion euros a year: “Through the amendment presented by MEP De Castro to the report on the Farm to Fork Strategy, the European Parliament accepted our request having understood the ‘importance of denomination products’, said the president of the Agri-food Cooperative Alliance, Giorgio Mercuri, speaking on Friday 22 October at the conference organized by Afidop for the 70th anniversary of the Stresa Convention, the first step towards the international protection of PDO cheeses. “With the commitment of the European Parliament – said Mercuri – cooperatives, companies and the system of Italian consortia will be able to continue to push on the enhancement of our products abroad and also to increase the level of international protection of denomination productions with respect to to the phenomenon of Italian sounding “.
“Guaranteeing the budget for the promotion of Geographical Indications – added Cesare Baldrighi, president of OriGin Italia – also means guaranteeing, thanks to the producers, the protection of the territories and the possibility, through the Production Regulations, to introduce rules that can facilitate the achievement of the objectives set by the challenge of ecological transition and the Green Deal ».
Soon the world of PDOs will also be able to count on a ministerial task force to promote, protect and defend all Italian denominations. The undersecretary for agricultural, food and forestry policies, Gian Marco Centinaio, said this again at the Afidop conference: «The denominations are one of the strengths of our country, unfortunately they are increasingly under attack. The goal is to create and institutionalize a task force for the ministry that I hope will become inter-ministerial, also involving the Mise, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and that of Health ».
The Afidop conference for the 70th anniversary of the Stresa Convention opened the 2021 edition of Forme, the event that for the sixth consecutive year the city of Bergamo dedicates to the union between the world of cheeses and that of culture: from Friday 22 on Sunday 24 October the most beautiful places in the city will host meetings and tastings, with the aim of promoting and enhancing the national dairy sector