Sri Lanka Tea Board celebrates 145th anniversary
Sri Lanka Tea Board celebrates 145 years anniversary of the tea industry in grandeur by hosting a prestigious international conference on tea
The year 2012 marked great significance to the local tea industry with the anniversary of 145 years of commercial plantation.
To celebrate this unforgettable milestone, Sri Lanka hosted the 20th session of the Food and Agricultural Organisation's Inter Governmental Group on Tea under the auspices of the United Nations. The sessions commenced on 30th January, 2012 and continued until 1st February, 2012. The 8th session of the producer/consumer member meeting of the international Tea Committee together with a half a day session on climate change preceded the global forum.
The official inauguration ceremony on 30th January, morning was presided by Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Plantation Industries with the participation of a host of local and international officials as well as Hon. Earl Gunasekera, Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries in attendance. While more than 100 delegates from over 25 countries attended the inauguration ceremony it included Mr. Kaison Chang the Secretary General of FAO /IGG based in Rome and Mr. Patrick Evans the country representative of the FAO local office in Colombo. The inauguration ceremony also witnessed the handing over of the Chairmanship of the FAO /IGG on Tea for the next two years to Ms. Janaki Kuruppu, Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Tea Board by Mr. Ashok Mangotra, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industries in India who chaired the position for the past two years.
While the largest contingent of participants was from the home country, the delegations from India, Indonesia and Kenya, were also substantial in number. A wide array of topics and issues related to the global tea industry is being discussed at length during the deliberation sessions. The current market activities, the progress in selected tea markets, factors affecting demand and supply, analysis of risk management, short to medium term predictions are some of the subjects to be discussed at length.
The FAO /IGG sessions focused discussions on areas related to production, marketing, pricing and con- sumption of tea faced by the global industry players in a single platform with the way forward for the next 10 years.
"The 20th FAO /IGG session gives great prominence and benefits to the tea industry in Sri Lanka. It is the ideal gateway to discuss our concerns while sharing our expertise and knowledge with experts from the international arena. Currently Sri Lanka holds the 3rd place in terms of global exports and 4th place in terms of production. Our aim is to retain the number one exporter position which we held until 2006. This will be a gradual transition in the future" said Janaki Kuruppu Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Tea Board.
The FAO /IGG session includes a number of prominent speakers from various countries around the world. Mr. Joseph Simrany, President of USA Tea Association, Bill Gorman, Executive Director, UK Tea Council Dr. Choudary, Secretary, National Tea Research Foundation of India Ms. Sicily Kariukii, Managing Director, Tea Board of Kenya are few to be named. The Rain Forest Alliance, Ethical Tea Partnership, Fair Trade Organisation, International Tea Committee and Common Fund for Commodities are few of the international observers at the Sessions.