Yichang tea is famous worldwide for its fragrance. On May 5, the promotion meeting and signing ceremony of 2019 Yichang International Tea Trade Fair was held in the city. Zhou Ji, the standing member of the Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, delivered speeches and witnessed the signing of the contract. Zhang Jiasheng, deputy secretary of the Municipal Party Committee and the mayor, presided over the meeting and contracting activities. Foreign envoys from Morocco and South Korea and Tea buyers from Russia, Armenia and other countries and regions along the "Belt and Road Initiative" gathered in Yichang to sign a 9000 ton purchase agreement with the tea enterprises in our city, with a total value of 110 million dollars. (Photographed by Wu Yanling, Full Media Reporter of the Three Gorges Daily)

　　Aziz Mekouar, Moroccan ambassador, Kim Young Geun, South Korean Consul General in Wuhan, Kang Weihong, member of Beijing Political Consultative Conference, member of Sino -French Fund Steering Committee and advisor at the ambassadorial level of Morocco, Xu Yun, Deputy General Manager of Hubei Branch of China Export &Credit Insurance Corporation, and Marina, Chairman of Sandoyan Investment and Trade Co., Ltd., all delivered speeches respectively. City leaders Zhou Qing, Zhou Zhengying, Liu Hongfu and Tan Yiming all attended the conference and signing activities.

　　On behalf of Hubei Provincial Party Committee, Hubei Provincial Government as well as Yichang Municipal Party Committee, Yichang Municipal Government and all Yichang citizens, Zhou Ji extend sincere welcome to the guests from afar and expressed heartfelt thanks to friends from all walks of life who cared about and supported the development of Hubei and Yichang. He said that the second "Belt and Road Initiative” International Cooperation Summit Forum was held in Beijing not long ago and the great initiative brought the world closer. He said, “Serving as a bond linking the countries and regions along the Belt and Road, Yichang is an important node of the world's three largest tea towns and “The Tea Road" with its tea production ranking first in China and being exported to more than 30 countries and regions around the world. Surfing the trend of the second “Belt and Road Initiative” International Cooperation Summit Forum, we will turn tea into messengers of friendship, development and culture through the platform of “2019 Yichang International Tea Trade Fair” to bring together friends and markets from all over the world and share cultural exchanges among countries. By doing this, we hope to jointly make new contributions to the development and prosperity of "The Tea Road". We warmly welcome all friends at home and abroad to Yichang for sightseeing and investing. Yichang will strive to create a legal, international and convenient business environment with best service for the guests form different places in a more open-minded manner.”

　　Aziz Mekouar said in his speech that Morocco was an important partner of China in building “The Belt and Road Initiative” and the world’s largest importer of Chinese green tea. Since the opening of the tea-leaf market in 2013, Morocco's import of green tea from China has been on a steady increase, accounting for 98% of Morocco's total import of green tea. He also said, “Yichang is a famous tea town in China. Morocco will further strengthen its cooperation with Yichang and import more high-quality Yichang tea to Morocco. Meanwhile, we’d like to explore cooperation in the fields of clean energy and phosphorus chemical industry, so that both sides can achieve fruitful results in building a platform of "The Belt and Road Initiative.”

　　At the ceremony, Yichang City granted "Yichang Tea International Market Development Award" to both Hubei Dengcun Green Tea Group Co., Ltd. and Hubei Sanpingyuan Tea Co., Ltd., and "Yichang Tea Best International Purchaser Award" to both Tajikistan Kabir Business Groupand Global tea Sarl Maroc.

　　After the promotion meeting, the city also held a centralized contract signing ceremony. A 9000- ton- purchase- agreement with the tea enterprises in our City with a total value of 110 million dollars was signed between the purchasers from Ukraine, Armenia, Russia, Malaysia, Tajikistan, Morocco as well as other countries, and Hubei Chexirenjia Ecoagriculture Co.,Ltd., Hubei Sanpinyuan Tea Co., Ltd., Hubei Yihong Tea Co., Ltd., Hubei Longxia Tea Co.,Ltd., Xinding Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Hubei Caihua Tea Co., Ltd., Yichang Sanxia Tea Group Kaining Tea Yihong Tea Co., Ltd., and Hubei Dengcun Green Tea Co., Ltd., . (Reporter Lei Pengcheng)