Gabala hosted the III International Jam Festival.

On the initiative and with organizational support of Gabala Region Executive Power, with the support of the National Culinary Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Azerbaijan National Cuisine Association, the III International Jam Festival was hold on August 29 in Gabala. First, the participants of the festival respectfully honored the great leader Heydar Aliyev, laying flowers at his monument. And then, a procession was organized by the public representatives and culinary teams of jam manufacturers with the music from the Heydar Aliyev Park to the area where the festival is held - "Qafqaz-Karvansaray" hotel. In the park in front of the hotel at the international event the confectioners from Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia, Iran, Serbia, Kyrgyzstan, including the jam masters representing 30 cities and regions of Azerbaijan, showed their products. Among the audience of the festival, held under the auspices of the World Association of Culinary Organizations and the World Organization of Folk Art, were senior officials of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Gabala Region Executive Power, the National Culinary Center of Azerbaijan, ambassadors of several countries in Azerbaijan, over three thousand local and foreign tourists. The opening ceremony was attended by the Head of the Gabala Region Executive Power Sabuhi Abdullayev, the president of the World Organization of Folk Arts of UNESCO Carmen de Padilla, deputy of Milli Majlis, chairman of the Council of Elders of the Republic Fattah Heydarov, Director of the Azerbaijan Centre of National Culinary Tahir Amiraslanov, the head of department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Fikret Babayev. Head of Gabala Region Executive Power Sabuhi Abdullayev greeted the guests and participants of the event in his speech at the opening ceremony, said that Gabala hosts a grand festival for 3 years, the participation of the confectioners at the festival in 2013 - from 11, last year - from 20, and this year - from 30 cities and districts of the country, as well as 6 foreign countries, means the growth of the authority of the event every year more and more. He noted that the main objective of such festivals is to ensure the conservation of intangible cultural heritage of our people. Sabuhi Abdullayev emphasized that the festival plays an important role in the more intimate acquaintance with the rich culinary culture, not only Gabala, but also of all regions of our country. Speakers noted that holding of the International Jam Festival in Gabala, one of the oldest and most beautiful cities of Azerbaijan, is not by accident, Gabala, has passed a long way of development, plays an important role in shaping the culinary culture of our people. Therefore jam festival traditionally is held annually in Gabala. In addition, Azerbaijan has a special place among the centres of traditional jam making art in the world. Jams made by confectioners of the country differ from the other countries with excellent taste and a wide variety. This can be clearly seen by comparing jams presented at «III International Festival of Jams in Gabala" by Azerbaijani and foreign confectioners. Jams of Azerbaijan were found above the products of other countries in the variety and quality. The "III Jam Festival in Gabala" held to promote the culture and national cuisine, was attended by teams of 8 people of each region, to cook 8 varieties of jam, as well as artistic groups, masters of applied art of these cities and regions. Within the festival, organized as a competition, the commission was established. Participants presented jams made of cherry, blackberry, strawberry, quince, walnut, peach, flowers and plum at the competition. The jury of 19 people elected by the Commission includes specialists and other experts in the respective fields. After the end of the competition, the exhibition and sale of jams were organized. Different types of jams, sweets and fruit juices prepared by pastry teams at the festival aroused great interest among local and foreign tourists. People were willing to try jam, they asked about the methods of preparation. Within the festival the exhibition-fair of works of national-applied art and performances of art collectives of Gabala were also organized. On the basis of the opinion of the jury, participants preparing the best jams were announced the winners in various nominations. The winners of the three categories of the jam competition were awarded with cup, medals and valuable gifts of the festival. The festival was continued with an interesting concert program.