The President of the Republic, Nicos Anastasiades chaired today, at the Presidential Palace, a meeting with cow farmers with the participation of the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Mr. After the meeting, Mr. Kadis told reporters, among other things, that the meeting was held "in the context of the President's meetings on haloumi issues. He has already seen the sheep farmers and the cheese makers.
And at today's meeting the President made it clear that it is non-negotiable that the full implementation and faithful application of what is laid down in the regulation that registers halloumi as a PDO is non-negotiable.
The President has listened to the views of the cow farmers and at an enlarged meeting, where all stakeholders will be present, decisions will be taken, not on the substance of the implementation of the regulation, as this is non-negotiable, but on procedural issues as to how to proceed with this process.
We believe that the full implementation of the PDO regulation will finally close this issue and establish the haloumi product as a Cypriot product, which there is no doubt that it is a product produced only in our country. This is the wish of the Government and this is the practice that the Government of Nicos Anastasiades is determined to follow."
Asked to refer to the procedural issues, Kadis said that "they have to do with some products that are circulating in the market, and how they will be withdrawn, and how the controls will proceed. It is a given that the controls will be done on the basis of the legislation that enshrines the PDO. Until now that the trademarks are in place, the control for the trade today was done by the Ministry of Commerce. At the moment, since we consider that halloumi can only be PDO, all controls will be done by the Ministry of Agriculture and the bureau veritas. At the meeting we discussed how we will move from the current to the new process.
The cow farmers presented their positions and assessments and for their concerns there are alternative options, there are options that lead to the utilization of all the quantities of milk produced in our country and what the President and the government of Nicos Anastasiades wants is to utilize all the quantity of milk produced with all the alternative ways available to us and at the same time to establish halloumi as a purely Cypriot product that no one can question. And the strongest protection is provided through the regulation of its registration as a PDO product."
He added that the Ministry of Commerce is at the disposal of the cow farmers for the promotion of their products abroad, and concluded by saying that "when there is good will we can face the challenges that arise and the benefits of registration are manifold."
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