Indo-Pak officials meet to prevent Basmati rice being imitated
Sunday, 9 November 2008
ISLAMABAD, Nov 8 (PTI): Indian and Pakistani officials began talks here yesterday on a joint move for registering the "Geographical Indication" of basmati rice in the U.S. and Europe to prevent the product from being imitated by other countries.
This is the second meeting of the Joint Working Group of the two countries on basmati rice. The group first met in New Delhi in April.
"The meeting strived to reach possible grounds on definition of basmati on the basis of mutually accepted parameters, defining basmati-growing areas in both countries and a system of checks and measures to deter third party use of basmati," said an official statement issued by the Pakistan government.
The talks will conclude today. Joint Secretary (Commerce) Azhar Ali Chaudhri headed the Pakistani delegation while Joint Secretary Danesh Sharma led the Indian side.
India and Pakistan plan to jointly register the Geographical Indication (G.I.) of basmati rice under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act. Sources said Friday's meeting took up some issues that had remained unresolved in the previous round of talks.
This is the second meeting of the Joint Working Group of the two countries on basmati rice. The group first met in New Delhi in April.
"The meeting strived to reach possible grounds on definition of basmati on the basis of mutually accepted parameters, defining basmati-growing areas in both countries and a system of checks and measures to deter third party use of basmati," said an official statement issued by the Pakistan government.
The talks will conclude today. Joint Secretary (Commerce) Azhar Ali Chaudhri headed the Pakistani delegation while Joint Secretary Danesh Sharma led the Indian side.
India and Pakistan plan to jointly register the Geographical Indication (G.I.) of basmati rice under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act. Sources said Friday's meeting took up some issues that had remained unresolved in the previous round of talks.