Attending the Opening ceremony of the Central Government were Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung; Former President Tran Duc Luong; Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan; Former Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem, Nguyen Khanh; Former Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Kien; leaderships of Ministries, central departments and provinces in the country; representatives of 28 Embassies and more than 30 international organizations.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung attended and spoke at the Opening ceremony of Festival

 From the province, there were Comrade Pham Xuan Duong, Member of Central Communist Party, Provincial Party Committee Secretary, Head of the delegation of  Provincial Member of the National Assembly; Comrade Vu Hong Bac, Chairman of the Provincial People’s Council; Comrade Duong Ngoc Long, Deputy Committee Secretary of Provincial Party, Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee; Comrades of the Standing Committee of Provincial Party; leaderships of Departments, Bureaus; Representatives of the tea villages, enterprises producing and processing tea and the local people.

At the opening ceremony, Comrade Duong Ngoc Long presented a brief history of tea and the tea production, tea position as well as the important contributions of tea in the economic life of Thai Nguyen people.

This was the first time an event honoring tea products and Vietnamese tea culture in general and Thai Nguyen tea in particular was held. Tea and tea products are not only valuable in economic terms, but also bring cultural and ethnic characteristic deeply. The festival is an opportunity for Viet Nam to know to the tea productions in over the world and the world knows the tea products in Viet Nam; to exchange experiences on tea and tea products between enterprises who plant, process and consume tea in the country and abroad, to improve gradually the quality and prestige  of Vietnamese tea products on the international market, etc.

Speaking at the Opening of the First International Tea Festival, Thai Nguyen - Viet Nam in 2011, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung praised the great achievements of the tea industry in Viet Nam as well as Thai Nguyen province . The Prime Minister highly appreciated economic effects of tea in 34 provinces in the country, which is exported to over 100 countries and territories. Viet Nam currently ranks the fifth in the world in tea production and export turn-over (achieved $ 200 million in 2010).

The Prime Minister acclaimed Thai Nguyen province that despite there were many difficulties but Thai Nguyen actively coordinated with the Ministries, Departments and localities to implement  socialization policy so well, mobilize resources to build material facilities, organize the International Tea Festival with many practical activities towards the original point, honor tea plant, tea products, tea producers, scientists, administrators, enterprises who had outstanding contributions to the development of tea industry in Viet Nam.

Beside these achievements, to help the Tea industry develop stably, bring the high economic effects, the Prime Minister required: With the advantage of the tea potential, Thai Nguyen needed to focus on promoting the value of Thai Nguyen tea, especially Tan Cuong tea; raising the production efficiency associated with broadcasting products; promote the diversified development potential, having strong efforts to successfully implement the objectives of the Resolution of The Provincial Party Congress, becoming a modern industrial province before 2020.

Overview of the Opening ceremony’s stage of the First International Tea Festival.

To overcome the limitations of the tea industry, the Prime Minister directed the ministries, Departments to promote the application of scientific and technological advances (biology, chemistry, automation) in the country and the world to boost production, processing in order to create some tea products, the staple goods in large quantities, safety, quality, high value economy which have high competitiveness, prestige in the domestic and international market; develop of trade villages which produce, process tea traditionally associating with traditional cultural character, tourism, honoring the craftsmen of tea village; make the concentrated area in association with construction of new rural areas;  expand market and promote the tea product export to deserve its potential and strengths of Vietnamese tea; boost international cooperation in the field of production, processing, consumption of tea products; make tea to be a plant that is strong, sustainable to increase income, contribute to the poverty alleviation; strive to over 1 million tons of the fresh tea buds per year; invest to upgrade the processing plants modernly in order to increase competitiveness of tea products in the world. The goal in the coming five years, Vietnamese tea prices would equal to the average tea prices of the world, export turn-over would increase by 2 times.

The Opening ceremony of the First International Tea Festival in Thai Nguyen - Vietnam 2011 ended in the brilliant, colorful fireworks and light performance.

The First International Tea Festival were attended by nine countries and territories using tea and importing Vietnamese tea products; 30 delegations of provinces with the strong point of tea, the tea trading and processing enterprises in the country; 50 famous tea villages and 25 tea typical enterprises of Thai Nguyen province. The Festival will take place from 12th to 15th of November with 18 main activities and auxiliary activities.