Three-day tea expo begins in Dhaka

FT ONLINE

A three-day exposition on tea and tea products of Bangladesh will begin in Dhaka today.

Organized by the Tea Board, the Bangladesh Tea Expo will be held at the Pushpogusso Hall at the Bashundhara International Convention City.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the event. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Tea Bord Chairman Maj Gen Md Safinul Islam NDC, Commerce Secretary Subhashish Basu and Bangladesh Tea Association President Ardashir Kabir will be present at the inauguration ceremony among others.

This year at the inauguration ceremony, a clone strain of tea, BT-21, will be launched. Various institutions and persons will be given awards based on several categories – including best tea garden in terms of workers’ welfare, best tea garden in terms of quality of tea, best tea company in terms of attractive packaging, tea garden that markets diverse products, best small grower and the best stall at the expo.

On the second day of the expo, there will be a seminar titled ‘Career prospects in the tea sector’ and on the third day there will be a seminar titled ‘Diversification of tea in Bangladesh/Artisan tea.’

Mini-auctions and tea parties will be organized.

There will be three television talk shows during the event, titled ‘Labour welfare in tea gardens in Bangladesh,’ ‘Prospect of tea tourism in Bangladesh’ and ‘Tea and your health.’ There will be cultural events on each of the three days. Besides popular musicians, members of communities from tea-growing regions such as Sreemangal and Bandarban will perform to represent their local and indigenous cultures.

Visitors will be able to enjoy these events by registering online. The entire event is open to the public and there are no admission charges.

The expo will be open from 4 pm to 11 pm today and from 11 am to 11:30 pm for the next two days.