Organized by OAPI in partnership with AFD, this major meeting which benefits from the institutional support of the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development will be held from April 17 to 19, 2024.
It is the theme “Geographic indicators (lG) in Africa: Current situation and development prospects” which will serve as a breadcrumb trail for the three-day international conference that the Cameroonian economic capital is preparing to host.
From April 17 to 19, experts, GI development institutions, and producers from around twenty countries will take stock of the efforts undertaken to promote GIs. Also, these leading players will be keen to outline the prospects for their development and expansion on the continent.
On the sidelines of this event, an exhibition fair of quality GI products from around twenty African countries will be held. “A great opportunity therefore for the populations of Douala invited to come and discover the agricultural and artisanal riches of the continent's terroirs”, indicated Denis L. Bohoussou, the director general of the African Organization for Intellectual Property (OAPI), l The government office of 17 African countries responsible for issuing industrial property titles, in particular patents of invention and registration certificates for trademarks or GI services.
It is also a development agency, responsible for promoting the strategic use of intellectual property for development purposes in member states. It is within this framework that the actions undertaken to promote GIs fall.
As a reminder, on December 6, 2006 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the ministers of industry and those of agriculture of the member states of OAPI had urged this continental institution to continue and intensify the efforts deployed for the promotion of IG. Through this act, they reaffirmed the interest of GIs in the promotion of local products and territorial development.
It is therefore with this support that OAPI has set up, with the assistance of the French Development Alliance (AFD), the project to promote GIs in its 17 member states. The first phase of this project implemented between 2008 and 2014 allowed the recognition of the first GIs in the OAPI space, in particular: white pepper from Penja and white honey from Oku (Cameroon) and Ziama-Macenta coffee (Guinea ).
Julien Efila
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