Tea requested to be kept high on priority in Iran trade

The Deputy Chairman, Tea Board of India, led a business delegation, with a view to augment the Indo-Iran tea trade and visited Tehran, Iran from July 16-18. The Indian delegation, along with the Indian Ambassador to Iran Mr.D.P .Srivastava, held separate meetings with H.E.M.S. Mofatteh, the senior deputy Minister, Ministry of Industry and Mines, Mr.Hamid Reza Movassaghi, Chairman, Iranian Association of Tea, H.E.M.M.Rasekh, the Secretary General and members of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, H.E. Amir Talebi, Director General, commercial affairs, Trade promotion organization, Ministry of commerce, H.E. Behrouz Jannat, Director General of Food, Beverage, Hygiene and Cosmetic Control, Ministry of Health, Iranian commercial banks namely Parsian Bank, Saman Bank, Pasargad Bank and EN Bank and urged upon the Iranian government to keep the tea high up in the priority categorization and simplify the procedures for GMP certification and its renewal. The government of Iran assured that the demands of the delegations are genuine and will be considered positively. A buyer-seller-meet was also organized at the Laleh International Hotel, where the Deputy Chairman, Tea Board of India, gave a presentation, to the stakeholders of Iranian Tea Industry, and briefed about the responsibilities of Tea Board. It was followed by a demonstration on Indian tea, tea sampling and one to one meeting between Indian and Iranian tea companies.The delegation visited the pioneer tea companies of Iran namely M/s Golchin and M/s Golistan, in order to gather the first hand knowledge about the Iranian tea industry and to understand the consumption trends in the country. The visits and the meetings were well appreciated by the Iranian tea companies as well as the visiting delegation.The positive outcome of the tea trade delegation is that the industry members could find new opportunities of Indian tea in Iran and the Government of Iran has agreed to bring back the tea into the top category of import items and streamline the GMP certification process.