GUWAHATI: A delegation of five researchers from Taiwan is on a three-day tour of Upper Assam from Tuesday to deliberate and find out ways to build and boost tea partnership with India.
The team led by Professor Chien-Teh Chen from the National Chung Hsing University, will visit the Tocklai Tea Research Station in Jorhat and have deliberations with officials led by Pradip Baruah, besides touring tea gardens.
Tea planters, Raj Barooah and Madhurjya Gogoi, will lead the delegation to gardens in Sonari and in and around Jorhat.
The visit by the Taiwanese delegation is a follow-up from the tour of the team from Assam to NCHU Taiwan. Last month, tea experts from Assam showcased tea and interacted with faculty members and students of the National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan to help tea become a leverage point between Act East policy of India and New Southbound policy of Taiwan.
Two tea experts from Assam — chief advisory officer, Tocklai Tea Research Institute, Pradip Baruah and Raj Barooah of Aideobarie tea garden in Jorhat were invited by the university to showcase and offer an insight into the world of Assam tea. Teas were displayed on a gamocha to enable students and faculty of the university to connect with the culture of Assam.
Industry sources say that this exchange of research delegation will enhance sectoral cooperation between India and Taiwan.
“The exchange of ideas and plans during the meetings in the two countries will solidify the tea partnership between Taiwan and Assam,” sources say.
The International Cooperation Office of the National Chung Hsing University, under Professor Mumin Chen, has taken the tea sector in India as a priority within Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy and India’s Act East Policy.
The New Southbound Policy is the initiative of the Taiwan government under President Tsai Ing-wen to enhance cooperation and exchange between Taiwan and 18 countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Australasia.
Discussions will be held on the possibility of holding joint workshops in Assam on tea processing and marketing initiatives. Besides, talks to promote sustainable and responsible tea tourism in Assam, and indigenous practices of tea making and processing in Assam, collaborations on various aspects, are on the cards.