On this occasion, he expressed the wish to give new impetus to the collaboration between Slovenia and the OIV.

The Director General praised this desire, which falls within the framework of an already close collaboration; this is particularly reflected in the OIV's patronage of the Vino Ljubljana international wine competition, which will take place on 30 June to 2 July this year.

Jean-Marie Aurand called for an increased presence of Slovenian experts in the work of the OIV. He also mentioned the possibility of Slovenia organising a presentation of its wines at the Organisation's headquarters.

Slovenian viticulture has a long history. Its cultivation of vines dates back to Celtic times, 2500 years ago: Maribor's Stara Trta , planted in the 16th century, is considered the oldest vine in the world.

For several years now, the Slovenian vitivinicultural sector has seen a thorough revival with the relaunch of a policy of quality wines, drawing notably on a great variety of terroirs and the development of native vine varieties.

Slovenian production has established itself at an average of 600 000 hL of wines per year, 75% of each are white wines. More than 70% of wines benefit from a designation of origin.

On this occasion, Jean-Marie Aurand – after having recalled the main missions of the OIV – gave a panorama of the state of the global vitivinicultural sector, highlighting the major trends and issues for the future.

Within this context, the discussions focused on a certain number of strategic and topical issues:

• the importance of standards, including those which are internationally recognised, in maintaining the essential characteristics of wine and ensuring the fluidity of trade,
  
• the role of the OIV as an intergovernmental reference organisation on the subject,
  
• the principles for setting additive limits,
  
• perspectives with regard to the labelling of ingredients.
  

Jean-Marie Aurand praised the quality of the collaboration developed over the years between the OIV and Oenoppia, which benefits from OIV observer status. The Oenoppia teams provide recognised expertise within the different expert groups of the Organisation and have been at the origin of several resolutions.

Oenoppia is an association that brings together the main stakeholders in the production of oenological products. Oenoppia members account for almost 90% of oenological products used in the world.