Printing & packaging show opens today

The opening ceremony, scheduled for 11AM, will feature a spectacular event presented by global packaging manufacturers, Tetra Pak. A massive 8m replica of their Tetra Prisma pack will take centre stage at the proceedings.

According to the organisers, Fairs & Exhibitions Ltd, the schedule of events kicks off with the official opening under the patronage of Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai's Technology and Media Freezone. Other VIPs and exhibitors from the show will attend the ceremony to be inaugurated with the Secretary General of the World Packaging Organisation (WPO), Dr Carl Olsmats.

More than 340 exhibitors will be on show from 28 countries, making the Gulf Pack and Gulf Print event five times larger than its comparable show in 2003. More than 10,000 visitors are expected over four days from within the UAE and across the region.

Immediately after the official opening ceremony, the International Media Production Zone (IMPZ) will be launching its new offerings for the printing and publishing industries. A model of the entire zone will also be revealed for the first time at the Gulf Print exhibition, set to be unveiled at 1230 by Mohammed Binghalib, Project Director of IMPZ.

Following that, Dr Carl Olsmats will present a keynote address at the show. He will present a paper entitled A Global Perspective on Packaging, covering a variety of highly important topics associated with sustainable development and environmental issues.

According to Dominic McGill, Project Manager of Gulf Print, "the next fours days will include an action packed schedule of workshops and seminars with the daily HP-QuarkXpress presentation being of great interest to all those in the graphics and printing industries."