Iran is using the services of a major Swiss intellectual property agency to protect four major food designations as it seeks boosted international trade for those products under geographical indications (GIs).

A senior Iranian agriculture ministry official said on Saturday that the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property would grant the property rights to the four Iranian food products as part of a trade agreement between Iran and Switzerland.

The signature products are saffron from Ghayenat, a county on the Iran-Afghan border, raisins from Malayer, a city in western Iran, pistachio grown in Rafsanjan, a town southeast of the country, and Piarom dates from Hajjiabad, near the Persian Gulf, according to Mohammad Khaledi, head of the economic affairs office at the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture-Jahad (MAJ).

Khaledi said that Iranian and Swiss officials had held a virtual meeting to report on their progress on GI labeling for the four food designations.
�The policy adopted by the MAJ is to move away from the traditional or conventional agriculture toward a commercial one with a focus on value chains and contract farming,� said Khaledi.