Conference addresses sustainable food supply chain in E Africa

EAST Africa’s role in creating sustainable development in the food supply chain with the help of technology will be addressed in meetings for experts, stakeholders, public decision-makers and leaders of international organizations. The three-day international conference “Food processing&packaging innovation for a sustainable development” is one of the key side events in the first edition of East Afripack 2014, starting on September 10 at the Kenyatta Center in Nairobi.

The top-level round table will emphasize just how crucial the lively economies in are to the food supply chain in the region as well as the continent at the East Afripack 2014, the processing, packaging and converting exhibition catering to the entire East Africa macro-region and the East African Community (EAC) from September 9  to 12.

“An international conference of this significance testifies to the importance of East Afripack as the first show of considerable international reach taking place in Africa and dedicated to Food Processing and Packaging,” said Prof. Claudio Peri, president of the Ipack-Ima scientific committee, who together with the members of the East Afripack Steering Committee developed the calendar of the conference.  

Specific topics will be addressed from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm and will feature prominent speakers:

September 10, Innovation trends in the agro-food chains with a keynote speech by Mr. Mpoko Bokanga, UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) representative to Kenya, Eritrea and South Sudan

September 11, Sustainable packaging: challenges and solutions with an introductory speech by Mr. Thomas L. Schneider, president, World Packaging Organization

September 12, Normative and educational pre-requisites for a sustainable development in agro-food chains with a keynote lecture by Mr. Paschal Nyabuntu of the EAC.

The goal of East Afripack is give visibility to specific product and process innovations enabling the efficient, sustainable development of small and medium food companies in EAC, and throughout the concurrent conference, a Business & Technology Planning Team will create opportunities for in-depth discussion and collaboration between exhibiting companies and international organizations on practical development issues in EAC’s food supply chain.

East Afripack is powered by Ipack-Ima Spa in joint venture with The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies (PMMI), and in partnership with UNIDO, EAC and the Ministry of Industrialization and Enterprise Development of Kenya.