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As part of the Business Program, seminars were also held on specific issues of business strategy in various segments of the industry. In particular, this is a seminar by Alexandra Kaloshina, founder of Solstudio Textile Design, on textile design 20/20. It was noted that consumer preferences in the current season are "multiplying" in various due to the increasing market interest in various color schemes. And in general, it is characterized by an increasing "addiction" of consumers to increasingly diverse, bizarre color schemes. In addition, the head of Solstudio noted the high demand for classical styles remaining among the main trends of the last three seasons. And as if "in pursuit" of these styles, a photographic landscape is also required, according to demand. "This is a very complex and actively developing topic in design solutions," explained A. Kaloshina.

Among other discussion events of the Business Program, the conference "Intellectual Property in the aspect of conducting foreign economic activity" also aroused great interest. Its main conclusion is that the EAEU's foreign economic activity has not yet reached the maximum level of regulatory and legal coherence between the participating countries. This is reflected in the level of effectiveness of the block-wide protection of intellectual property in the Union's foreign trade operations. And this is due, among other things, to discrepancies within the EAEU on such issues as, for example, the qualification of the country of origin of the goods and/or trademark, the category of "falsification", "re-export", "parallel import". In addition, in Armenia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, for example, crimes in the field of violation or falsification of inventive and patent rights are not subject to criminal investigations. Less stringent, in comparison with the Russian Federation, are sanctions for forgery or illegal use of official trademarks. Meanwhile, within the framework of the EAEU, the unified Customs Register of Intellectual property (TROIS) is de jure fixed; right holders can protect their rights by submitting an application for the inclusion of intellectual property objects in TROIS.

Robert Voskanyan, Advisor to the CEO of the patent law firm "JUS", noted a very important progress in this area. Namely: The Agreement "On Trademarks and Service Marks", signed by the EEC Council on December 6, 2018 and effective from 2021, will replace a multi-stage and expensive system of registration of such marks within the Eurasian Union. So far, copyright holders have to register their trademarks in all participating countries. And the mentioned agreement will allow this to be done only once in any of the intellectual property offices of the Union countries. That is, according to the principle of "one window".

In total, more than 20 conferences, seminars, master classes, and other events were held as part of the Business Program of the Week. "It was,"according to A. Razbrodin, "an interested, highly professional conversation about the most pressing problems and trends in the industry with the participation of business, the expert community, representatives of federal agencies."

"The week" included not only exhibition sites and discussion events. But also summing up the results of competitions in various segments of the textile and light industry, and honoring the winners.

On March 19, the winners of the Textile Design Talents Award 2019 competition were awarded. More than 500 artists from 123 cities and 24 countries took part in the competition. It is held by Solstudio Textile Group with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, SOYUZLEGPROm and the Intertkan exhibition. The results of the competition were evaluated by the strongest international jury, consisting of leading professionals of the world textile design industry. The winner was Nona Totibadze, she will receive a paid internship in the design department of the world's leading textile factory Ratti S.p.A. – Marzotto Group (Como).

Once again, the professional jury has determined the winners of the Intertkan 2019 professional award competition.Spring».

And on March 22, 2019, on the final day of the "Week", the XVI annual ceremony of awarding the National Industry Award "Golden Spindle" according to the results of last year took place. The Golden Spindle is the main prize in the Russian fashion industry, an annual assessment of the highest professional achievements in the formation and development of the fashion industry in Russia. The winners in various nominations are textile and light industry enterprises, fashion houses, workers of leading professions, designers, fashion designers and many other representatives of the industry community.

Dmitry Kurochkin, Vice-President of the RF CCI, Vyacheslav Nikonov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education and Science, and Evgeny Ryzhov, Director of the Department of Light Industry and Timber Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, participated in the awarding of the laureates. During the award ceremony, Evgeny Ryzhov noted that the "Golden Spindle" is also the most important incentive to increase the prestige of absolutely all sectors and directions of the Russian light industry. And, therefore, for the growth of labor productivity in the industry.

The President of Soyuzlegprom, Andrey Razbrodin summed up the results of the Week as follows: "Of course, the promotion of Russian light industry products is facilitated by the Week and, in general, industry exhibition and fair activities. But, in my opinion, it should be significantly expanded both geographically and thematically. I believe that the state, together with the business community, needs to pursue a targeted policy to promote competitive domestic products to the markets. This direction should become, in my opinion, the most important part of the ideology of the state and business in the development of the light and textile industries, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy.

Author: A. Chichkin

Photo: Soyuzlegprom