The East African Community (EAC) Secretary General, Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera has invited to the region experts in Processing, Packaging and Material Handling Industry.
Amb. Sezibera extended the invitation while addressing the IPACK-IMA 2012 International Exhibition for Processing, Packaging and Material Handling Industry taking place at the Fiera Milano Exhibition Center in Italy.
He noted that African economies have experienced acceleration in growth during the past ten years, with real GDP increasing by 4.9% annually between 2000 and 2008, compared with 2.4 % in the 1990s.
The continent was again rightly being seen as a place of opportunity after decades of stagnation.
“African economies have withstood the challenges of the recent global shocks, food and fuel prices rise; slowing down their traditional markets of Europe, Japan and the United States of America.”
“The East African Community (EAC) GDP is poised to grow by over 5% in 2012. The magnitude of this growth, while broadly understood, is startling in its specifics and the opportunity it presents,” noted Amb. Sezibera.
Amb. Sezibera commended the organisers of IPACK-IMA exhibitions but noted that food safety and food security go beyond increasing production, productivity, storage and processing and overall supply of food needs to be balanced with the quality of individual access.
He urged IPACK-IMA exhibitions to also serve as platform where business or exporters from Africa can demonstrate the systems they have in place to respond to food safety requirements in Europe.
He invited the President of IPACK-IMA, Paulo Barilla and the Chief Executive Officer, Guido Corbella to partner with EAC in organising similar events in East Africa as the region remains ready to work with partners to promote the packaging industry in the region.
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