Caucasian Cheese

"Caucasian Cheese" - an initiative that underlines the interest in and potential of cross-boundary economic cooperation especially in the border regions. The idea was born during CBDN's Kars Business Forum in early March 2007, where Armenian and Turkish dairy producers began exchanging cheese recipes and consequent came up with the idea of creating a new Caucasian Cheese brand.

To carry the initiative forward and to provide a platform for Armenian, Azerbaiijani, Georgian, Turkish, Abkhaz, Ossetian and Karabakhi dairy producers to connect and cooperate, CBDN started its "Caucasus Cheese" initiative.

The First South Caucasian Cheese Exhibition was organized between 14-15 May 2008 in Gyumri, Armenia as a follow-up to the Kars Business Forum.

The exhibition marked the launch of the “Caucasian Cheese” jointly produced by the Armenian, Turkish and Georgian cheese producers. Hundreds of people visited the exhibition - international organizations, cheese producers, public officials, embassies and others. The event got much publicity nationally, in the region and beyond through TV and articles (including the Economist issue of May 24-30).

Between May-June presentations of the Caucasian Cheese were made in various supermarkets in Gyumri, Yerevan, Tbilisi, Ninotsminda and Kars. All included CBDN team from different entities. These were also covered by a multitude of media outlets (mainly TV and print media).

The Second South Caucasian Cheese Exhibition was organized between 17-20th July 2010 in Tbilisi. The agenda of the meeting included visiting cheese factories, sharing recipes, and the exhibition of cheeses from different regions of the South Caucasus including the ‘Caucasian Cheese.' The event was attended by the chairmen of the Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijan Cheese-makers Associations, representatives of the Georgian Ministry of Agriculture, representatives of the non-governmental structures and experts. As a result of the concluding conference, an overwhelming majority of participants supported CBDN’s initiative to work towards establishing Caucasus Association of Cheese-makers.