8.30 – 9.00     Registration  

9.00 – 9.30     Welcome Address, Opening Remarks

• Dragan Mirkovic, special advisor on agriculture of Vice Prime Minister of Serbian Government and Minister of Sciences and Technological Development
• Richard Eberlin, on behalf of FAO Representative for Europe and Central Asia

9.30 – 11.00    Quality Food Products linked to Geographical Origin: Challenges for the
                        South-eastern European Region

• How GIs can contribute to sustainable rural development, Emilie Vandecandelaere, FAO, Quality and Origin.

• Local and institutional challenges in the establishment of GIs in south-eastern countries, Dominique Barjolle, AGRIDEA, Director;
  Pascal Bernardoni, SEEDEV, Director.

• The need for GI policy in south-eastern countries, Barna Kovacs, Corvinus University of Budapest.

• Discussion

11.00 – 11.30  Coffee Break   

11.30 – 13.00  The International Context for GIs
                       Chairman: Dominique Barjolle, AGRIDEA

• International Framework for the protection of the Geographical Indications and Appellations of Origin, Matthijs Geuze, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Senior Counsellor.

• Geographical indications as an instrument of the EU rural development policy, Isabelle PEUTZ, Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural development of the European Commission (DGAGRI).

• Stakes and state of the international negotiations (WTO, WIPO)Alexandra Grazioli,  Legal and International Affairs Division of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property.

• Discussion

13.00 – 14.30  Specialties Exhibition  and Lunch

14.30 – 16.00  Harmonisation of the legal framework among the South-eastern European
                        countries and with the EU regulations
                        Chairman:  Branislav Raketic Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management
                        of Serbia

• Presentation of Serbian experience, Miodrag Markovic, Industrial Property Office of Serbia

• Presentation of Slovenian experience,  the twinning Project “Improving knowledge about Food Quality Product in Slovenia, Marija Klopcic, University of Ljubljana

• Current financial and technical assistance tools supporting enlargement countries and in future also European Neighbourhood Policy countries in adapting EU standards Isabelle PEUTZ, Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural development of the European Commission (DGAGRI)

• Discussion

16.00 – 16.30 coffee Break   

16.30 – 18.00  Establishment of an efficient control and certification system and Enlargement
                        of the institutional network to protect GIs
                        Chairman:  Isabelle PEUTZ, Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural development                         of the European Commission.

• Presentation of Macedonian experience,  Pance Nikolov, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, Head of Unit.

• Presentation of Croatian experience, Tomislav Tojcic, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of Croatia, Directorate for Food Safety and Quality.

• Presentation of control and certification sytem in EU (illustrated by the Italian experience); implications and challenges for pre-accession countries, Ventura De Lauretis, Suolo e Salute, Italy.

• Discussion

18.30 – 19.45  Specialties Exhibition

09.00 – 10.30  Definition and upgrading of product: problems and solutions
                        Chairman: Massimo Vittori, OriGIn, General Secretary.

• Projects around traditional cheeses in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sorinel Ghetau, UCODEP;
  Zlatan Saric, Faculty of Agriculture, Sarajevo.

• Definition of a Geographical Indication around Futoski Kupus in Serbia, Aleksandra Novakovic, Institute for Food Technology, Novi Sad, Serbia.

• Slavonski Kulen in Croatia, Tomislav Galovic, OriGIn, Vice President for Eastern Europe.

• Discussion

10.30 – 11.00  Coffee Break   

11.00 – 12.30  The local organization around GIs
                        Chairman:  Philippe Decesse, French ministry of Agriculture

• The Kraljevacki Kajmak, Serbia Dragan Roganovic, Ibarska Development Association.

• The Leskovacki Ajvar Project, Serbia, Bruno Frattini, ICARO; Gordana Dicic, Chamber of Commerce of Leskovac.

• The Dinaric Arc Initiative, Bosnia and Herzegovina Richard Eberlin, FAO REUT, Land Tenure and Rural Development Officer.

• Discussion

12.30 – 14.00  Lunch

14.00 – 15.30  Working groups

• Topic 1: Main gaps and technical assistance needs at farmers and processors level.
  Moderator: Pascal Bernardoni, SEEDEV; Reporter: Hajnalka Petrics, FAO-REUT.

• Topic 2: Main gaps and technical assistance needs at institutional level.
  Moderator: Magali Esteve, AGRIDEA; Reporter: Katalin Ludvig, FAO-REUT.

• Topic 3: Common regional problems: what possible regional cooperation / synergies.
  Moderator: Dragana Tar, SEEDEV; Reporter: Richard Eberlin, FAO-REUT.

15.30 – 16.00  Coffee Break   

16.00 – 17.00  Round table: the way forward 

• Summary and conclusions of working groups
• Stakeholders panel

17.00 – 17.30 Conclusions and Recommendations