In the presence of the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Akram Chehayeb, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Gebran Bassil, the Director General of the OIV, Mr Jean-Marie Aurand, recalled the actions taken recently for development of the wine sector. He also gave presentations during technical sessions on recent trends in the world wine market.
Structured around four working sessions dedicated to the markets, environment, standardisation and development of trade, speakers from the OIV and Lebanon gave presentations on international and local aspects of vitivinicultural production.
Accompanied by the Director General for Agriculture, Mr Louis Lahoud, the OIV delegation also visited the wine regions of Batroun, Jezzine, Chouf and Bekaa, as well as meeting producers around round tables on the topics of wine tourism, "boutique" wineries and wines derived from organic agriculture.
At the end of these days, Mr Jean-Marie Aurand stressed the importance for Lebanon of ensuring increased participation of experts in the work of the OIV, of promoting native grape varieties by adding them to the OIV official list and of registering geographical indications for wines.