Sri Lanka's traditional Ceylon Tea Party was celebrated in Ankara as Sri Lankan ambassador to Turkey Pakeer Mohideen Amza received Education Minister İsmet Yılmaz, foreign mission chiefs in Turkey, journalists and students.
The 150th Ceylon Tea Party was celebrated in Ankara and across the world. Amza said he was very happy to see ambassadors from around the world and Turkish guests at the reception.
Yılmaz said that all around the world the word tea reminds people of Sri Lanka, something he called "a concrete success" for the country.
"There are some countries in the world that are associated with certain things. Football comes to mind when one says Brazil. Diamonds come to mind when one says South Africa and Sri Lanka comes to mind when one says tea. It is indeed a great success," Yılmaz said.
Yılmaz said Turkey is among the leading tea importers of the Sri Lankan product, adding that Turkey is a significant market for Sri Lanka.
Amza stressed that 90 percent of the tea Turkey imports comes from Sri Lanka. He also thanked the Turkish people for choosing Sri Lankan tea.
After China and India, the world's two most populous countries, Turkey is third in tea consumption in the world.
Based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the average annual tea consumption per person worldwide is less than 1 kilogram, but in Turkey, each person consumes an average of more than 3 kilograms of tea annually.
China remains at the top of the list of producers worldwide, with almost 2 million tons of tea produced, followed by India, Sri Lanka and Kenya.
