Kampot Salt to be awarded PGI, other products under consideration

The Ministry of Commerce is preparing to register “Kampot-Kep Salt and Salt Flower” as a national protected geographical indication product to promote it in the market, AKP reported.

The working group in charge of the case, with support from the French Development Agency and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is collecting seawater samples from seven designated areas of origin for testing to produce a unique and quality salt and fleur de sel, according to the ministry’s intellectual property department.

“The ministry’s intellectual property department, in collaboration with national and international experts from WIPO, organized a dissemination workshop and took seawater, soil and salt samples to test the quality of Kampot-Kep salt and fleur de sel in the seven production centers. The positive results showed that these areas can be included in the production area of Kampot-Kep salt and fleur de sel,”  said Soun Vichea, director of intellectual property at the ministry of commerce”.

The Ministry of Commerce is also studying the possibility of registering a geographical indication mark or collective mark in the fisheries sector, including “Kampong Som dried shrimp, Koh Kong dried shrimp and Siem Reap fish Prahok,” which are well-known fisheries products in Cambodia.

Currently, Cambodia has a few products identified as geographical indication or GI, such as Kampot pepper, Kampong Speu palm sugar, which Confirel produces, processes and distributes, as well as Koh Trong pomelo and Mondulkiri wild honey.