Seven additional products have received Geographical Indication (GI) certification in Bangladesh. The newly recognized items are Meherpur’s Sabitri sweet, Himsagar mango, banana, Netrokona’s Balish misti, Phulbaria’s red sugar, Kaliganj towels, and Faridpur jute. With these additions, the total number of GI-certified products in the country has reached 62.
The certificates were handed over on Tuesday at a ceremony organized on the sidelines of the SME Fair at the Bangabandhu Bangladesh–China Friendship Exhibition Center in Dhaka. Industry Secretary Md Obaidur Rahman presented the GI certificates to the respective stakeholders.
The event also featured the unveiling of the official GI tag logo, which certified producers can now use on their GI-recognized products. The SME Foundation, under the Ministry of Industries, is hosting the fair, where small and medium entrepreneurs are showcasing their products. A seminar titled “Importance of Intellectual Property in SME Industry Development and Its Commercial Prospects” was also held on the occasion.
The seminar was chaired by Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Industries Maksuda Noor, while the keynote paper was presented by Industry Secretary Obaidur Rahman. Among those present were SME Foundation Chairperson Md Musfikur Rahman, Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) Chairman Saiful Islam, and the Director General of the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, Md Jahangir Hossain.
In his keynote presentation, the Industry Secretary emphasized the need to strengthen the SME sector, noting that development is impossible without the creation of intellectual property. He highlighted the importance of safeguarding intellectual property and stressed that entrepreneurs must commercialize their innovations to fully benefit from them.
