A prestigious and highly symbolic informative event was co-organized yesterday, Monday 21/11/2022, by the Halkidiki Chamber of Commerce and the SEVE-Exporters Association, at the Chamber’s Conference Center, in the presence of members of the Chamber’s Board of Directors and businessmen, who responded to the invitation, regarding the importance acquisition and use by businesses of the EU Collective Mark. “M MACEDONIA THE GREAT” (Macedonian Emblem).
In his greeting, the President of the Halkidiki Chamber, Mr. Yiannis Koufidis, expressed the institution’s support for the SEVE initiative and called on its member businesses to think with a sense of national responsibility and adopt the Macedonian Flag.
The President of SEVE, Mr. Symeon Diamantidis, referred to the need to register this collective MACEDONIAN trademark for Macedonian businesses, their products, and also their services, with the aim of acquiring a common identity, as a member of a wider set with common characteristics, which will thus make them distinct as Macedonian Greek enterprises.
Mr. Pantelis Manis, Project Manager from the company Euroconsultants S.A., explained what the Collective Mark is, stating that it can be obtained completely free of charge by Greek businesses of Western and Central Macedonia, as well as the Regional Units of Kavala and Drama, provided that they are or become members of SEVE.
The legal dimensions of the matter were referred to by DrN, Lawyer Efstathios Koutsochinas, who developed the actions implemented by SEVE and started in 2019 until finally the legal difficulties within the European Union were overcome and finally the registration of the Collective Mark was achieved “M MACEDONIA THE GREAT” at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in Alicante, Spain.
As mentioned by the President of SEVE, Mr. Diamantidis, the aim is to have this mark adopted by all Greek businesses, even those that do not export, as the aim is for visitors to our country to get used to seeing it everywhere, in restaurants , hotels etc. and to learn that the product bearing the Macedonian mark is a Greek product, as well as when they come across products on the shelves of stores in their countries, to recognize that products with the Macedonian mark are Greek products. He also informed that he will run a strong communication program of the Macedonian Brand inside and outside the borders, with target markets in the USA, Canada and Europe.
A fruitful dialogue followed between entrepreneurs of the Chamber of Halkidiki and the speakers, where reasonable questions were discussed and opinions were expressed regarding the action.
