Asia Siyaka’s Anil Cooke to address key Dubai tea forum
View(s):Sri Lanka’s Anil Cooke, President and CEO, Asia Siyaka Commodities PLC is among a list of high-profile speakers who will address a two-day Global Dubai Tea Forum from April 25-26 under the theme “Brewing the future of trade.”
Organised by DMCC, the world’s leading Free Zone for commodities trade and enterprise, this 7th edition event will be held at The Address Hotel, Dubai Marina.
With Dubai serving as global trade gateway for tea, much enabled by the DMCC Tea Centre, the forum will discuss opportunities and challenges covering every aspect of the tea supply chain – from producing countries and merchant exporters to blenders and buyers – creating new business opportunities across the industry, a media release issued by the organisers said.
Speakers will include Sultan Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World; Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Former Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Minister of State for External Affairs, India; Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman, DMCC; Sanjeev Dutta, Executive Director, Commodities, DMCC; Bala Sarda, CEO and Founder, Vahdam Tea; Khaldoun Asmar, CEO, Barari Group; Azam Monem, Director Global Sales and Marketing Industry, Mcleod Russel India Ltd; and Nguyen Thi Anh Hong, Vice Chairwoman, Vietnam Tea Association, along with Mr. Cooke.
Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman, DMCC, said: “There is always something brewing at DMCC, and our DMCC Tea Centre efforts to date have helped position the UAE as one of the world’s top three markets for tea per capita by consumption. The reality is that the world consumed 2.9 million tonnes of tea in 2016, with global consumption forecast to reach 3.3 million tonnes in 2021. The 7th Global Dubai Tea Forum is designed to welcome industry leaders from all across the globe to address the opportunities this will bring and how we best together prepare for the next wave of growth.”
On day one, leading experts will start the day by discussing ‘The developments in Branding and positioning of the Tea industry’ and determine the brand’s competitive advantage and latest developments. Other panel themes will follow which include: ‘Share of Throat’; ‘Storm Brewing for Tea Industry’; ‘Tea Industry and the Effect on Climate Change’; ‘Producing Countries – Growth and Challenges’
On the second day, panel themes will include: ‘Tea-chnology and Development/Advancements’ and ‘Consuming Countries’ which will feature representatives of key markets such as Russia, Iraq, the US and Saudi Arabia.