On March 21st, the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) held a scientific workshop on Geographical Indication for Ba Ria – Vung Tau salt product. The Directorate for Rural Development was the lead agency and T&T INVENMARK Intellectual Property International Company Limited was the consulting agency. Participants included leaders of agencies, enterprises and salt producers in Ba Ria - Vung Tau (BR-VT) province. Ms. Pham Thi Thuy Yen, Deputy Director of the DARD chaired the workshop.

The seminar aimed at assessing, managing and developing intellectual property in BR-VT province as well as proposing a proper and feasible solution to promote intellectual property rights and related activities. Another objective of the workshop is to identify the difficulties and propose the direction to improve the effectiveness of brand development for key products of the province.

BR-VT province has a long tradition of salt production. A locally-specific combination of salt field characteristics and traditional salt making technique produces unrefined sea salt which is dry and firm with large size and sharp edges. Since this salt has low content of impurities, especially MgCl, it does not have bitter taste but a perfect saltiness. BR-VT salt is not only popular in the domestic market but also widely accepted in overseas markets with high standards.

At the end of the workshop, the leaders of the DARD expressed sincere thanks to participants for their attendance and valuable comments and feedbacks. Knowledge and information gained through the workshop will support the DARD to continually research, build and promote the brand of BR-VT salt product in the future.