According to Paul Reid, Deputy Director of Trade and Investment at the British Embassy, who opened the session, UK is the largest European investor in Thailand, with the value of UK’s exports to Thailand at about £600 million. An average of two UK investment deals are approved in the Kingdom each week.

Reid said, “One of the main objectives of Thailand is to position itself as the ‘Kitchen of the World’. To establish and maintain that status, Thai companies will need to enhance their products through better process and packaging. This means they need the best technology and the British companies exhibiting and speaking here today have that technology, as well as the know-how and the back-up services.”

The speakers at the seminar, representatives of member companies of PPMA, shared how they could help the local processing and packaging industry with the knowledge they each have in their respective specialized fields.

Ben Hawes of Marden Edwards Ltd, for example, explained to the audience how they, regardless of the type of product they are packaging, can improve product quality through overwrapping. Apart from protecting the primary pack of a food product for example, overwrapping also provides a near hermetic seal for improved freshness as well as prevents bacteria and aroma transfer. Products can also enhance their attractiveness at point-of-sales as the store’s light reflects off the film to create a shiny appearance.

Jim Colwell, Chairman of Jacob White Ltd – a founder member of PPMA – told the audience that modern packaging methods can add value to products. Not only does good packaging attract consumers to the product, he said, it also gives creditability and confidence and creates media pressure for consumers to purchase them.

With the sort of technology and knowledge British companies can provide, the main message of the seminar was that trade and investment opportunities between UK and Thai companies are abundant. As Reid said to the audience, summing up his speech, “I hope you will see the UK as your partner of choice for all your processing needs.”

The Processing and Packaging Machinery Association (PPMA) is a trade association representing some 350 companies in the processing and packaging machinery sector in the UK who serve the food, drink, cosmetics, toiletries, pharmaceutical and medical devices industries. A number of PPMA member companies are exhibiting their technology in various fields at the UK pavilion of Propak Asia 2007.