“Our first priority is the safety of members and delegates attending the Summit. While the efforts to control the virus are increasing rapidly, the risks remain, and the lockdown on travel in and out of China is likely to continue for the foreseeable future,” said Eef de Ferrante, MD, AIPIA.
Clear decision
“We felt it was important to give some certainty as early as possible, so have decided to postpone our event.”
De Ferrante added the announcement was made with support of its partner Prime Business Consulting in China.
“Their firsthand knowledge of the situation and advice on how China’s packaging community is having to dealing with the many disruptions to its business, made this decision easy to take,” he said.
Wu Chaowu, AIPIA’s chief representative in China and CEO of Prime, said establishing the Summit as a priority event for the longterm is very important.
“The 2019 event was already shaping up very strongly with more booths and speakers already committed. So interest here for Smart Packaging is very high. But we believe in the interests of members and potential delegates this is the correct course of action,” said Chaowu.
“It may be some time before things get back to normal, so a clear decision now helps everyone to plan ahead.”
De Ferrante added it took a long look at finding 2020 dates, but the packaging calendar is already full, so it was better to cancel the Asia Summit due to growing uncertainties and other scheduled events.
“Our colleagues at Prime will work hard on the project and we look forward to continuing to work with them to make our next Summit, in 2021, bigger, better and more dynamic than before,” he said.
FHA-HoReCa
In other news, Informa Markets, organiser of FHA-HoReCa, said it was postponing its event in March in Singapore to July 13-16 due to Novel Coronavirus, as a result of the significant impact to international travel during this period.
FHA-HoReCa was scheduled to be held at Singapore Expo from March 3-6, 2020.
“Postponing FHA-HoReCa was a difficult decision but a necessary one, considering the effects on the wider HoReCa industry in Asia. We are now focused on working closely with our exhibitors, event partners and registered visitors to ensure we offer them the necessary support required as a result of this decision,” said Martyn Cox, event director, FHA-HoReCa and FHA-Food & Beverage.
For the later FHA-Food & Beverage event, the organiser will continue to work with government authorities and agencies to put in place necessary measures, both pre-event and onsite, to help ensure the safety and confidence of the event’s participants.
