The World Packaging Organisation (WPO) participated at Propak MENA held in Egypt from May 26-28. The organization was represented by its president Luciana Pellegrino; vice-presidents, Soha Atallah (marketing) and Kofi Essuman (education); the Global Ambassador Ahmed Omah; and 15 members from different countries and two regional bodies.
The countries that were part of WPO delegation and activities during the show are Brazil, Egypt, France, Ghana, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Palestine, South Africa, Tunisia, and Uganda. WPO local member, the Egyptian Chamber of Printing & Packaging Industry, represented by its president Nadim Elias was involved in most of the activities.
“The WPO participation at Propak MENA, exploring different activities, is so strategic since it gathers board members from the Middle East and Africa regions. We are thrilled on how our collaboration with Informa Markets is growing in a very fruitful way. Furthermore, bringing so many country members together was part of WPO’s strategic move to raise the voice for packaging on a global level and empowering members to support the packaging industry in their own countries,” says WPO President, Luciana Pellegrino.
As part of the program during Propak MENA, Luciana Pellegrino and VP marketing Soha Atallah was expected to share the stage with Nadim Elias, president of the Egyptian Chamber of Printing & Packaging Industry, and Ali Badarneh, from Unido, a WPO partner, in a special panel to discuss how packaging fights food loss and waste.
In partnership with its local member, the Chamber of Printing & Packaging Industries, WPO performed a training program during Propak MENA. The trainer Kishan Singh highlighted packaging trends and statistics, sustainability, emerging packaging technologies, quality systems, smart packaging, etc.
Another important event during Propak MENA was the Arab-Africa Roundtable, co-organized by WPO, Informa Markets, UNIDO and LibanPack. WPO vice-president marketing, Soha Atallah, explains, “There are regional key stakeholders from the food packaging industry. The idea is to promote innovation and cooperation, increase efficiency, and drive growth in the sector. It will also help attract foreign investment and technology transfer to the region, which will help improve the industry’s overall competitiveness.”
The roundtable included key associations in Africa and the Middle East, most of them WPO members, within the food packaging industry to discuss the main points of their business objectives, challenges faced, needs, and opportunities to get adequate information on the necessary steps needed to develop the food packaging sector in each targeted country respectively.
WPO is a non-profit, non-governmental, international federation of packaging institutes, associations, federations and other interested parties including corporations and trade associations. It has 84 members, representing 63 countries.
