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good public attendance figures, stronger international appeal and excellent prospects for the next session. These, in brief, are the conclusions that the organisers reached after the 19th International Exhibition of Packing, Packaging, Material Handling, and Food-Processing Industrial Machinery closed on Saturday, March 8, at Fiera di Milano.The Portello pavilions were visited by as many as 45,000 people; their number and quality were judged very positively given the difficult economic and political situation worldwide and considering the introduction of an entry fee, in line with other packaging exhibitions across the globe.
The climb in the number of overseas visitors is a demonstration of the growing international prestige of Ipack-Ima; 24 per cent of the visitors were from other countries, about one in every four visitors. This figure reflects the trend underway in other leading international packaging exhibitions, and shows that international end-users have decided not to miss the appointment despite concerns over a conflict between the United States and Iraq.
This year’s exhibition was all about integration, leading to a significantly larger area for materials, food processes and beverages and greater efforts – despite the difficult moment – by the exhibitors. After the results of the 5-day Ipack-Ima 2003, the organisers are focussing on a further improving the exhibition’s quality and visibility in 2006 by taking advantage of Milan’s new exhibition fairground at Rho-Pero.
"This 19th exhibition at Portello marks the end of an important cycle for our exhibition" - stated Guido Corbella, the managing director of Ipack-Ima -. "We are now centred on the future after signing an agreement with Fiera Milano that will probably make Ipack-Ima 2006 the first exhibition to be hosted in the new complex and certainly the first in the field of industrial machinery. We will use this to finally develop the potential for excellence of this exhibition, without being hemmed in as has been the case until now".
