Top tea producers’ meet in Colombo today
The Plantation Industries Ministry and the Sri Lanka Tea Board will
host the first ever International Tea Producers’ Forum in Colombo, today
at Cinnamon Grand Hotel. Sri Lanka as the current chair of the FAO/IGG
on tea and host the proposed ministerial level meeting of tea producing
countries for the establishment of the International Tea Producer's
Forum (ITPF), a release said.
Sri Lanka is the venue for one of the most important events in the
global tea industry, providing a prestigious platform for joining all
major producing countries to establish ITPF.
This is a historic achievement which was advocated by Sri Lanka,
Kenya and India with support from other tea producing countries. After
almost a decade and half most tea producing countries have come on-board
showing commitments for a common goal.
The formation of a dedicated association or grouping for tea
producing countries to discuss issues related to tea growing and
production has been an important need for many years.
The lack of an international body specifically established to
deliberate on matters of significance to the industry in tea producing
countries has resulted in substantial setbacks to the sector.
Such an organization was conceived of in Sri Lanka, during the late
1990s and a renewed attempt to foster such a collective effort by tea
producing countries was initiated in 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya, during the
17th Session FAO/IGG on Tea.
The proposal was subsequently discussed at various global platforms
pertaining to tea.
Eventually, the discussion at the 18th Session of the Food &
Agricultural Organization/Inter-governmental Group (FAO/IGG) on tea in
Hangzhou, China in 2008 culminated in several tea producing countries,
including Sri Lanka, signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to
establish an International Tea Producers’ Forum (ITPF).
The tea producing nations showed a sincere enthusiasm to implement
the action plan set out in the MoU during the Inter-sessional Working
Group on Tea held in Mombasa, Kenya in July 2011 and the 20th Session of
FAO/IGG concluded in Colombo, in January/February 2012. Having reviewed
all relevant documentation, an informal meeting of delegates of tea
producing countries on the sidelines of the Session in Colombo was
chaired by Plantation Industries Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe.
Soon after the deliberations, a resolution was agree upon by
delegates of ten tea producing countries to proceed with the formation
of ITPF. It was decided to invite all tea producing nations to have a
meeting at Ministerial level to discuss future steps.
Accordingly Plantation Industries Minister invited Bangladesh,
Burundi, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda and Tanzania, as
delegations from those countries attended the 20th Session in Colombo,
and have already subscribed to the resolution. In addition other major
tea manufacturing nations namely, Argentina, Vietnam, China and Uganda
were also invited to join the establishment of an ITPF.
The Ministers in charge of tea in India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi,
Rwanda and Tanzania have already confirmed the proposal to proceed with
the ministerial level meeting. Brundi, Bangladesh, Argentina, Vietnam
and China have also responded positively to support this initiative and
to strengthen the establishment of ITPF and the collective effort by the
tea producing countries.
The proposed ITPF which consists of all major global tea producers
will create a platform for exchange of views for the advantage of tea
producers and to formulate strategies for deriving common benefits to
all producing countries. |