Binh Thuan dragon fruit gets protected geographical indication in Japan

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) informed that the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF), on October 7, officially granted a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) certificate for Binh Thuan dragon fruit after more than three years of carrying out procedures for the protection of geographical indications (GI) in Japan.

This is the second Vietnamese agricultural product to get protected status in Japan after Luc Ngan lychee of Bac Giang Province.

According to the MoST, being granted a PGI certificate means that the prestige of Binh Thuan dragon fruit has been recognized in the Japanese market, opening up many new opportunities for the export and consumption of Binh Thuan dragon fruit in many different markets, especially in fastidious markets like Europe, South Korea, and New Zealand. This also shows the role of intellectual property, which is considered a support tool for Vietnamese products, especially agricultural products, to have more competitive and export advantages.

Mr. Dinh Huu Phi, Director of the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP) under the MoST, said that the registration of the PGI certificate of Binh Thuan dragon fruit in Japan was a long and interesting story, helping it to gain valuable experience in supporting Vietnamese specialties to reach the world.

The NOIP will continue to implement this activity to help specialties attached with the places in Vietnam be protected by a relatively strong protection mechanism - geographical indications.

The NOIP registered the origin of goods for Binh Thuan dragon fruit on November 15, 2006, under Decision No.786/QD-SHTT. On July 8, 2011, Binh Thuan Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No.14/2011/QD-UBND enclosed with the regulation on management and use of geographical indication of "Binh Thuan" for dragon fruit products.

Like Luc Ngan lychee, the NOIP mobilized many forces to contribute to getting the protected status for Binh Thuan dragon fruit in Japan, which is famous for being a fastidious market, with extremely strict legal regulations on the protection of geographical indications. The registration of geographical indication of Binh Thuan dragon fruit in Japan was extremely complicated. Therefore, to overcome the difficulties, the NOIP provided support in two ways, including completing the dossier for geographical indication protection registration to fully meet the provisions of the Japanese law and increasing political influence to accelerate the process to the final result.

According to the NOIP, in the coming time, to promote the production, consumption, and export of dragon fruit, Binh Thuan Province will promote the propaganda and promotion of the geographical indication of "Binh Thuan" to improve the prestige and value of Binh Thuan dragon fruit.

At the same time, it will organize training seminars for dragon fruit farmers and enterprises on production, preliminary processing, and packaging of dragon fruits following VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards; connect and cooperate with specialized agencies to invest in research, application, and transfer of technological advances into production; strengthen the management and planning of dragon fruit growing areas and build specialized dragon fruit-growing areas under the VietGAP standards; focus on building models of association and cooperation in the production and consumption of dragon fruit following the value chain; increase promotion and call for investment in the processing sector to diversify products from dragon fruit; build an e-commerce trading floor for dragon fruit products; support market expansion.