INTERNATIONAL TEA CONVENTION, KOCHI An international tea convention was jointly organized by the UPASI and Tea Board in conjunction with the Tea Trade Associations of Cochin, Coonoor and Coimbatore at the International Convention Centre, Kochi on September 6-7, 1999. Major tea producers of India exhibited their teas. Manufactures of tea machinery also participated in the convention. About 450 delegates including 40 from overseas participated at the convention which turned out to be a fruitful get-together of the various segments connected with the tea industry and trade.

Mr. T. Sivadasa Menon, Hon'ble Finance Minister of Kerala was the Chief Guest, who inaugurated the function. Mr. S.S. Ahuja, Chairman, Tea Board and Convener of the Convention welcomed the gathering. The Keynote address was delivered by Mr. P.P. Prabhu, Commerce Secretary, Government of India. The first session was devoted towards briefing the participants on the India tea scenario, important aspects of tea research and management concepts. Flavoured tea, specialty tea, health aspects of tea, current tea scenario in Russia and packaging were the topics covered in the second session. The third and fourth sessions had presentations on future of the tea market in Russia, U.S., the Middle East, Europe, CIS, as also the Domestic market.

PLATINUM JUBILEE SYMPOSIUM An international symposium on tea science was organized at Chennai on Feb 5 and 6, 2001 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the UPASI Tea Scientific Department. The Platinum jubilee symposium was inaugurated by Shri. Murasoli Maran, the Hon'ble Union Minister for Commerce and Industry. Shri. Master Mathan, M.P (Nilgiris), Shri. L.V. Saptharishi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India and Shri. Vikaram Kapur, Chief Regional Executive, Tea Board, Coonoor offered felicitations. Dr. N. Muraleedharan, Director, UPASI Tea Research Foundation introduced the theme of the symposium. During the inaugural function, a book entitled, "A decade of tea research in south India" containing the abstracts of the articles/research papers published from the UPASI Tea Scientific Department during 1991-2000 was released by Mr. L.V.Saptharishi. The release of the high yielding variety TRF -1 was an important event of the Platinum jubilee celebrations.

About 200 delegates attend the symposium. There were representatives from all the tea growing areas of India. Delegates from Australia, Japan, Kenya and Sri Lanka also attended the symposium.

At the valedictory function, Shri N. Athimoolam, Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Government of Tamil Nadu was the chief guest. Shri. Surjith K.Chaudhary, Commissioner for Horticulture and Plantation Crops presided over the function. Dr. K.S. Venkataramani, former Director, UPASI Tea Scientific Department was the guest honour. The papers presented at the Technical sessions have been published in Bulletin No. 54 of the UPASI TRF.