John led an inbound mission to Pro Pak VietNam earlier this year “It was the first time we had exhibited there and we generated considerable interest, although we know that that market is in its infancy and is going to take some time to penetrate, we feel that it is worth pursuing”  

As for Pro Pak Asia according to John Cowdrey “Last year 2006 was good this year was even better, and we’ll be back next year.” Although PPMA fielded a small contingent of four companies in the British national pavilion there were at least five or six other British companies exhibiting who, according to John, “They’ve matured and have entered the Asian market, either as on their own or in Joint Ventures or via agents and dealers, and it our objective to build on that.”

Early closing

One criticism Cowdrey had, after observing visitor patterns all week, was that “Usefully the show could probably close about an hour earlier, for no other reason that from 4pm onwards attendance tends to drop away, and we see some of the exhibitors also tiptoeing away.

“Because of the traffic issues in Bangkok, an earlier close would allow people to go back to their hotel, freshen up and go on for evening business meetings – or open up the hospitality fridge and stay back at the hall until 7pm to have more meaningful discussions with customers at the end of the day without interruption – a minor issue but one which the organisers might take on board.”