Ghana gives birth to Institute of Packaging

Accra, Nov. 3, GNA - Ghana on Monday gave birth to the Institute of Packaging to become the first country in the West Africa Sub-Region to have established such an association belonging to the World Packaging Organisation (WPO).

Known as Institute of Packaging Ghana (IOPG), it would promote the networking and cooperation among respective stakeholders to develop the science and art of packaging and marketing in the country.

Inaugurating it, Major Courage Quashigah (rtd), Minister of Food and Agriculture, said the initiative tied perfectly with Government's policy of adding value to locally produced goods to make them attractive on every shelf anywhere on the global market.

He said in spite of the tremendous growth in the manufacturing sector of small-scale non-traditional exporters Ghana's packaging standards still fell short of international market requirement. "This is because almost all local packaging suppliers are primarily involved in low value packaging items using simple and often time old machinery," Major Quashigah said.

He said as the country was striving to become the hub of industrial activity in the Sub-Region, there was the need for packaging suppliers to modernise their technology.

The Minister said being the weakest link in the chain of agribusiness; many exporters had had their goods rejected overseas because the packaging did not meet international standards.

Globalisation of economies has presented opportunities and challenges creating initiatives like AGOA and NEPAD and countries could only take the advantage when they intensified their efforts to produce high quality goods and services for the export market.

"Product competitiveness does not depend only on the availability of natural resources and low cost, and unskilled labour, but also on the ability of the manufacturers to upgrade the quality of their products through continues improvement," he said.

Small and medium enterprises, the Minister noted, should have local marketing and technical services, which could help improve the quality and presentation of products.

Touching on the theme: "Packaging and the Environment", Maj Quashigah said the demand being placed on the packaging industry worldwide was becoming complex and, therefore, there was need for an environmentally friendly packaging.

Mr Kofi Essuman, President of IOPG, said the organisation derived its roots from the Ghana National Packaging Cluster of small and medium scale enterprises, which was formed under the auspices of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Mr Essuman said the striking improvement of the quality of life of people in advanced countries had been partly due to the application of science and technology in the manufacture of goods and services.

Mr Keith Pearson, President of the IPSA, launched the IOPG Website and a magazine that would provide information on the activities of IOPG. He pledged his Association's commitment and support to the Ghana chapter and said with the great commitment and maturity shown he was hopeful that a huge impact would be made on the marketing of products.