II Jam Festival was hold in Gabala.

The II Gabala Festival Jam was hold on August 24. The festival, organized jointly by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan Republic and the Executive Power of Gabala Region, was hold in the "Qafqaz Karvansaray" hotel complex of Gabala city.
The festival was attended by the heads of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan Republic, the Executive Power of the Region, Center of Azerbaijan National Culinary, ambassadors of foreign countries in Azerbaijan, workers of culture and art, local and foreign tourists as well as residents of the city. The event was opened by the deputy head of the Executive Power of Gabala region, the head of the department of social, political and humanitarian issues Ataya Osmanova. Then greeting the participants of the festival, Head of the Executive Power of Gabala region Sabuhi Abdullayev noted the indispensability of this festival, held for the conservation, development of material and spiritual culture, advocacy and communication to the future generations, and stressed that today's rapid socio-economic development of independent Azerbaijan is a logical result of continuing with great skill by our esteemed President Ilham Aliyev of the course ingeniously laid by the National Leader Heydar Aliyev. Noting the richness of social and political life of Gabala with significant events, speaker mentioned the election of Gabala in 2013 of cultural capital of the CIS, and in 2014 the capital of the legends of Azerbaijan, said that the city is a wonderful land of international music festivals, exhibitions of fine art, sport events, meetings and summits of Heads of States. It was noted that holding here today the II Jam Festival, we are witnessing another triumph of Gabala. In conclusion, the Head of the District Executive Power congratulated the participants and wished success to the festival. Then, in their speeches, the head of department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Fikrat Babayev, president of the Azerbaijan National Culinary Association Tahir Amiraslanov, spoke about the importance of organizing such an impressive event in Gabala, one of the ancient capitals of Azerbaijan. It was brought to the attention that confectioners who participated in Gabala Jam Festival, held in order to promote national culture and cuisine of Azerbaijan, in addition to exhibiting here fine manual work, also take part in the sales fair. It was noted that today the event of republican scale is held in Gabala in order to preserve national customs and traditions, national values and national wealth. The fact that last year confectioners of 8 districts participated in this festival, and this year from 21 cities and districts of the country, says about even greater increase in prestige of the event each year. Then the guests cut the red ribbon to mark the opening of the festival, and approaching to the tables, prepared by confectioners from each area, got familiarized with the variety of sweets with samovar tea. It was reported that Gabala festival jam, held for the second time in order to promote national culture and cuisine of the country, was attended by 8 confectioners, cooking 8 kinds of jam, from Shaki, Absheron, Gobustan, Shamakhi, Balakhani, Gakh, Ismayilli, Aghdash, Gokchay, Ujar, Zardab, Zagatala, Khachmaz, Gusar, Guba, Gadabay, Goranboy, Ganja, Oghuz, Ordubad and Gabala, as well as artistic groups and masters of folk arts and crafts of these cities and districts. The festival was organized first in the form of competitions. For this purpose, a special commission was created. Participants presented in the contest jam of cherry, blackberry, strawberry, quince, walnut, peach, rose and plum. The Commission had selected jury of 12 people. The jury consisted of experts of the relevant fields, and other experts. After the event, conditions were created for sale of jam. Within the festival sales exhibitions were organized, consisting of the works of masters of arts and crafts, as well as performances of art groups of Gabala, Sheki, Gakh and other regions of the country.
Based on the opinion of the jury in front of the participants, that made the best jam, the winners in various categories were declared. In the competition the premier place was taken by Sevda Bakhshiyeva (Ganja city, strawberry jam), the second place by Fizza Makhmudova (Zagatala district, peach jam) and Natavan Musayeva (Goranboy region, rose jam), the third place by Sayara Guliyeva (Gabala region, quince jam), Jalya Gadirova (Ismayilli district, cherry jam), Hayala Mikailova (Oguz district, cherry jam). Taking an active part in the festival in terms of organization, Executive Power of Gabala, Khachmaz and Absheron districts were awarded respectively gold, silver and bronze medals. Confectioners, who took the first 3 places at the festival, not only were awarded medals, but also cash prizes and valuable gifts. Event was continued with interesting concert program.