In the Regional Chamber of Commerce of Šumadija and Pomoravlje, Administrative District in Kragujevac, on May 23, 2024, the fourth seminar has been held, in the serial of presentations organized this year, under the title “Role of Intellectual Property in Branding Agricultural and Food Products”. The seminar was held in the cooperation of the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia and the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia.
The present participants have been greeted by the Director of the Regional Chamber of Commerce of Kragujevac, Mr. Predrag Lučić who has emphasized that Kragujevac is well known for its car and metal industry, but also that Šumadija has huge potential in agriculture, is well known for its orchards, production of quality wines and brandies and that diversification is, by all means, very important for the region. The introductory address was also given by Assistant Director of the Intellectual Property Office, Daniela Zlatić Šutić, while the session was presided by Danica Mićanović, Senior Counsellor of the Association of the Plant Production and Food Industry of the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia.
Lectures were held for the participants of the seminar by the representative of the Office at the topic of the protection of innovations in agriculture and food industry, protection of trademarks and indications of geographical origin. The event was attended by the representatives of two associations from Šumadija, producers of brandy and producers of wine, Center for Wheats and Development of Village of the Kragujevac University and the representatives of other business subjects and local self-government.
Special focus was placed on the examples from practice, and such presentation was given by the Director of Regional Chamber of Commerce of Jablanica and Pčinj Administrative District, Goran Jović. Mr. Jović has emphasized that the Regional Chamber of Commerce in Leskovac has been among the first local institutions supporting small enterprises to unite and it guided them through not that easy a process of registration and certification for the Leskovac home-made ajvar, which is an internationally registered geographical indication. Three more GIs for traditional food products from Leskovac are registered in Serbia, as well as one warranty trademark. So, this region has the greatest number of the registered indications of geographical origin, which contributed to the local economic development of the communities of origin. To support that, Mr. Jović has emphasized that the production of the Home-made ajvar used to be 30.000 jars and now the amount reaches over one million jars of Leskovac Home-made ajvar, at the yearly level.