(ANSA) – SOFIA, 23 MAG – The Ambassador of Italy in Sofia, Marcello Apicella, spoke at the seminar “Denomination of Origin and Protection of Agri-food Products, Italy and Bulgaria Compared”, organised by the Sofia Office of the Agency for the Promotion Abroad and Internationalisation of Italian Enterprises (“ICE Agency”), in collaboration with the Bulgarian Union of Fruit and Vegetable Processors and the Association of Meat Processors in Bulgaria. The initiative, hosted at the Hotel Intercontinental in Sofia and attended by more than 40 companies, organisations from the local agri-food sector and specialised journalists, was dedicated to the exchange of knowledge and good practices in the field of denomination of origin and protection of agri-food products between Italian and Bulgarian experts. The event highlighted the benefits of registering protected designations and specialities, in order to stimulate the promotion of the Bulgarian territory’s agri-food excellence through the use of good practices and strategies successfully established in Italy. The seminar was also attended by the Director of the ICE Agency in Sofia, Andrea D’Andrea, the President of Confindustria Bulgaria, Roberto Santorelli, and the President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria, Alessandro Geretto.
Italian experts Mauro Rosati (Director General of the Qualivita Foundation and Origin Italia) and Gianluigi Ligasacchi (Head of Consortia Area at ASSICA and Director of the Italian Consortium for the Protection of Mortadella Bologna) presented Italy’s long and proven experience in the field to stimulate Bulgarian companies to make more frequent use of registration procedures for the protection of designations of origin and traditional specialities on the basis of EU standards.
On the Bulgarian side, speakers included Elka Bozhilova, Head of the Quality Systems Department at the Agri-food Chain Policies Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Antoaneta Bozhinova, Executive Director of the Union of Fruit and Vegetable Processors, and Dilyana Popova, Executive Director of the Association of Meat Processors in Bulgaria.
Opening the seminar, Ambassador Apicella highlighted the great experience acquired in this sector by Italy, first in Europe for the number of geographical indications and protected designations of origin, dwelling on the excellent results that the use of these procedures has produced in the wine and dairy sectors, and on the importance of the link between territory and quality for the valorisation of the territory’s excellence and its relaunch.
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Italian experts Mauro Rosati (Director General of the Qualivita Foundation and Origin Italia) and Gianluigi Ligasacchi (Head of Consortia Area at ASSICA and Director of the Italian Consortium for the Protection of Mortadella Bologna) presented Italy’s long and proven experience in the field to stimulate Bulgarian companies to make more frequent use of registration procedures for the protection of designations of origin and traditional specialities on the basis of EU standards.
On the Bulgarian side, speakers included Elka Bozhilova, Head of the Quality Systems Department at the Agri-food Chain Policies Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Antoaneta Bozhinova, Executive Director of the Union of Fruit and Vegetable Processors, and Dilyana Popova, Executive Director of the Association of Meat Processors in Bulgaria.
Opening the seminar, Ambassador Apicella highlighted the great experience acquired in this sector by Italy, first in Europe for the number of geographical indications and protected designations of origin, dwelling on the excellent results that the use of these procedures has produced in the wine and dairy sectors, and on the importance of the link between territory and quality for the valorisation of the territory’s excellence and its relaunch.
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