WINET Trade Forum was held on 24th and 25th of September 2020 in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria in the conference room of the Regional Historical Museum – Stara Zagora. The WINET Trade Forum is an event organized in the framework of the project WINET – Trade and Innovation in Wine Industry. The Project is implemented with the support of the Black Sea Basin Programme, part of European Union’s Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) cooperation platform and is especially dedicated for wine sector and wine trade.

A total of 55 representatives of the wine sector, wine production, trade and related business sectors (retail, horeca, import and distribution), non-governmental organizations from the wine and touristic sector, business support associations, and regional and local authorities participated in the Forum. The Regional Vine and Wine Chamber (RVWC) in Bulgaria, which is a non-governmental association of the professionals engaged in vine-growing and wine-making in Bulgaria, also provided support for the WINET project.

The two days WINET Trade Forum started with the welcoming speeches of the Vice Mayor of Stara Zagora Municipality, Oleg Stoilov – President of Stara Zagora Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Stefan Iamandi – the representative of the Moldova Investment Agency – Lead partner of WINET project.

 

The two days WINET Trade Forum started with the welcoming speeches of the Vice Mayor of Stara Zagora Municipality, Oleg Stoilov – President of Stara Zagora Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Stefan Iamandi – the representative of the Moldova Investment Agency – Lead partner of WINET project.

The programme included several topics presented from interesting lecturers and experts on:

  • The WINET project and WINET platform for the wine sector and wine trade – presenting the opportunity to become a member of the first international online network of wine producers and exporters, unifying companies from the Black Sea Basin region
  • The experience of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (MAFF) in the financial support of the wine sector
  • The role of certification to increase quality services in wine tourism in the Black Sea
  • How to create a Wine Destination in the Black Sea region and a modern digital tourist information center – strategies and a good examples from France as a leading wine country
  • The wine tourism and wine brands promotion in the Black Sea region in Bulgaria

On the second day the Forum continued with the exhibition of winemaking companies and the related Horeca sectors companies. The exhibition was opened both to the professionals and to the amateur wine lovers.

The programme was followed by а Master class led by the expert Galina Niforou – Chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Wine Exporters and manager of wine consultancy company OINORAMA. The Master class was dedicated to the typical for the Black Sea region wines.

The Forum was highly rated by the attendees who shared their future vision for the use of the good opportunities offered by the WINET Network and platform that will enable members of the platform to share and discover best practices, to receive in depth guidance on effective policy implementation with governmental authorities in the 3 Black Sea countries – Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania, as well will give valuable insights on wine industry benchmarking. The WINET Network by connecting more than a hundred companies of wine industry will provide a unique opportunity for online meeting and networking with an interested audience. This includes key stakeholders from wine making companies, NGOs, business associations, government and supply chain actors.

At this stage of the WINET project implementation CCI Stara Zagora involved 24 wine producers and merchants, 3 NGOs and 4 regional authorities, 2 Universities by signed Collaboration Protocols and declared their interest in joining the WINET Network. The next months are expected to double the number of the members and to be published on the platform.