Hellim producers grill EU officials

THE first ever meeting of the informal working group on hellim took place last Friday at the Home for Cooperation in the buffer zone in Lefkoşa.

The working group had an equal number of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot members, and met to “exchange experiences and good practices on the implementation of the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO)” of hellim — an order which restricts the production of hellim to the island of Cyprus.

The group was set up in July to “provide a forum for fair and open dialogue regarding the implementation of the PDO”, which initially attracted a range of reaction including some criticism.

Judit Rozsa, who works as the Director of Resources, Coordination and Aid Programme in the DirectorateGeneral for Structural Reform Support of the European Commission, attended the meeting.

Ahead of the meeting she said “this will be an important contribution towards bringing Cyprus a step closer to solving issues that are common for both communities”.