International Tea Symposium 2014 opens in Hangzhou
DATE:2014-11-20 SOURCE:The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
The International Tea Symposium (ITS) 2014, organized by the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences(CAAS) was held in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province on Nov. 10-13, 2014. CAAS Vice President Wu Kongming addressed the opening ceremony.
Wu noted that the Tea Research Institute bears the responsibility to promote tea S&T innovation and organize international exchange and cooperation activities. The Institute should utilize the Symposium as a platform to enhance communication with colleagues both at home and abroad, step up cooperation, advance S&T innovation and speed up research-into-use processes, to make greater contribution to China''s tea industry development.
China is a major tea producer and has topped the world in both growing area and production of tea since 2005. Despite of fast growth, China''s tea industry is still facing some gaps compared with Japan and other developed countries in terms of brand building and mechanized operation.
Given this background, with the theme "Innovation & Development", the Symposium consisted of three sessions, namely, keynote speeches & country reports, thematic presentations, and the Global Forum of Directors of Tea Research Institutes.
The first session comprised four keynote presentations covering tea and human health, the impacts of climate change on tea industry, tea biochemistry, and tea technology & industry development.
In the second session, 54 scientists exchanged views on tea breeding and cultivation, pest and disease control, tea and human health, tea economics and culture, tea biochemistry and processing, and so forth.
Representatives from 12 countries, including China, Bangladesh, India and Japan, participated in the Global Forum of Directors of Tea Research Institutes. They had an in-depth discussion on tea technology innovation, production, marketing and processing, as well as the trend and challenges facing the industry. Consensus was reached in strengthening academic exchange, personnel training and establishment of a regular exchange and cooperation mechanism among tea producing countries.
At the end of the Symposium, the Consensus of the Global Forum of Directors of Tea Research Institutes was signed, emphasizing the importance to enhance cooperative research to jointly promote the development of global tea industry and related technology.