On May 19-20, 2022, the 2nd International Congress on Cocoa Coffee and Tea Asia was held at Khazar University.
The Conference is jointly organized by Khazar University, Azerbaijan, Anhui Agricultural University and State Key Laboratory Tea Plant Biology and Utilization of Anhui Province, China.
The Congress is being conducted along with the cooperation and partnership agreement on scientific research projects between of the Anhui Agricultural University, and the State Key Lab of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization which are the world leaders in tea science and education.
The history of this cooperation has started in October 2018 during the first conference organized, by the State Key Laboratory Tea Plant Biology and Utilization, and Anhui Agricultural University of China in Hefei, China. On the last day of the conference, the two countries –the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare of India and Khazar University were shortlisted to host the Second International Congress on Cocoa Coffee and Tea Asia 2020. Then Representatives from both countries delivered a speech about their organizations and a welcome speech for hosting the next conference. The selection committee voted for Khazar University to host the second conference. In May 2019, Chinese Experts Visited Khazar University for expanding cooperation in tea science and scheduled the 2nd Conference for 2020. Unfortunately, due to the Worldwide Pandemic situation, the conference was postponed to May 2022. Despite there being almost no Covid cases in Azerbaijan, a new large wave of infections nationwide arose these days in China. Therefore, together with colleagues from China, it has been decided to host the conference in its Hybrid form.
At the opening ceremony, welcoming addresses were delivered by prof. Irada Khalilova, rector of Khazar University, prof. Hamlet Isaxanli, the Founder of Khazar University and Chairman of its Board of Directors and Trustees, Prof. Xiaochun Wan, Chairman of CoCoTea Asia 2022, Prof. Tao Xia, President of Anhui Agricultural University, Charge d’Affaires Mr. Ding Tao, Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Wenjun Dong, Director of Foreign Scientific and technological Cooperation Division in Science and Technology Department of Anhui province.
About 300 researchers from China, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran, USA, Russia, South Korea, Ireland, Denmark Georgia, Belgium, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, and Nigeria participated online and 60 researchers from national universities and research institutions including speakers from Turkey, Iran, and Russia participated offline at the conference. Moreover, the representatives of the Food Safety Agency attended the Conference. 51 speakers delivered their speeches over two days. More than 100 Abstracts have been submitted.
Regarding the Second International Coffee and Tea Conference to be held at Khazar University on May 19-20, 2022, Khazar University has announced May 16-20 (one week) as Tea Festival Week. During this week, in the courtyard of the university, employees of AZERÇAY Company in national costumes provided free coffee and tea service every day from 08:30 in the morning to 18:00 in the evening, which started on May 16. During the two days of the conference, AZTRADE MMC joined Tea Festival Week and also provided free Energy Coffee Hell to all students and staff.
At the closing ceremony of the Conference, Final Declaration has been presented, and announced a call for publications of original and unpublished work in a Special Issue of Beverage Plant Research, international, open access, online-only journal: https://www.maxapress.com/bpr
Additionally, the Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences invites conference speakers in the social sciences of tea, coffee, and cocoa to publish their original work in a Special Issue of the journal: https://jhss-khazar.org/