India-Pakistan to file joint application on Basmati rice

New Delhi, May 16 (UNI) The Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh today informed the members in Lok Sabha in a written reply that a decision was taken for exploring the possibility of a joint application by India and Pakistan for registration of Basmati Rice as Geographical Indication.

He said India has already written a letter in this regard to their Pakistani counterpart on May 10, last year in which it was suggested that a sub-group of Joint Study Group (JSG) can be constituted for holding consultations on this issue.

He said on November 18, last year India decided to constitute a JSG in Department of Commerce to look into all aspects regarding joint registration of Basmati Rice as GI with Pakistan. This JSG will identify the rationale for the joint registration, what India and Pakistan needed to do for protecting Basmati as GI and the set of activities that both Governments would need to complete to realise this objective, he added.

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