The government should make a complete list of the country’s traditional products and take the initiative to immediately register them for geographical indication (GI), said The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
“Government will have to survey to list the traditional products they will need to register and then apply for GI,” said CPD Distinguished Fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya at a press conference at the think-tank’s office on Wednesday ( 26 June).
CPD arranged the press conference following media reports that India has registered the honey from the Sundarbans as their own GI product.
In the past, India has registered Tangail saree as the Indian GI product.
Bangladesh has so far received GI status for a total of 31 traditional products, the first being the Jamdani saree in 2016.
Bangladeshi GI-certified products include Hilsa fish, Khirsapat mango, Rajshahi silk, and Dinajpur's Kataribhog rice.
However, India has also registered some traditional products of Bangladesh as their own.
Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya said that Bangladesh and India need to create a common legal framework to resolve GI issues.
Speaking at the press conference, CPD Executive Director Fahmida Khatun said, “One after another we are losing our traditional products. If we do not register our traditional products proactively, we will lose more products in the future.”
“These products are not only traditional, economy and livelihood also involved with these products,” she added.
Also speaking at the event, CPD Distinguished Fellow Professor Mustafizur Rahman Bangladesh is discussing the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India and GI issues can also be included in the CEPA.
