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| Sunday, 11 May 2003 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Lankan elected Vice President of World Packaging Organisation by Elmo Leonard Dharmatilake Ratnayake (61) was elected Vice President of the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) at WPO's annual sessions held in Barcelona, Spain on April 1, it was revealed at the Lanka Star Awards presentation held in Colombo recently. Ratnayake, who since November last year, has been President of the 14-member Asia Packaging Congress, was urged to accept the WPO post, when the seat falls vacant in three years. Ratnayake said that he would decline the offer, inspite of being urged by the membership of the Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging (SLIP) to accept it. Ratnayake, who is also President of SLIP, said he did not wish to utilise SLIP funds for his personal glory. He explained that the WPO post had always been held by affluent businessmen from the First World, who used personal funds to travel extensively in their missions to promote packaging. From the commencement of Ratnayake's career, he has been involved in technical work, being a Bachelor of Science degree holder. He would be ideally suited to promote packaging in the Third World and WPO has already given him the task of spreading the importance of packaging to students of the Third World. In keeping with this focus, the Lanka Stars competition this year accommodated a Student Star Contest, which was won by Shiranthika Chathurani Liyanage of Sujatha Vidyalaya, Nugegoda. Her presentation was a 'bio-degradable gift box.' Ratnayake was also Secretary General of the Asia Packaging Federation (APF) in 1989 and 1990 when Stanley Wickremeratne was its President, and Vice President of WPO. Ratnayake has travelled extensively through Asia, leading Sri Lankan delegations at APF meetings and presenting technical papers. Packaging is the discipline in which Sri Lanka has gained most international acceptance, it was mentioned at the Lanka Star Awards. Ratnayake said that packaging functions range from technical to marketing oriented. Technical packaging professionals need science and engineering skills, while marketing professionals need artistic and motivational understanding. Packaging is not a recent phenomenon, and can be traced to human beginnings. A study of packaging's changing roles and forms over the centuries is, in a very real sense, a study of the growth of civilisation, Ratnayake said. He gave an example of a whole new packaging sector been born in 1980, when society suddenly discovered the need for a tamper-evident closure system. Sri Lanka's packaging infrastructure could not face up to such new challenges, as the nation does not have the technological foundation for new research and development on packaging forms. The Lanka Star Awards are meant to evaluate such capability, and Ratnayake drew the attention of the government towards acquiring such infrastructure through the establishment of a packaging development centre. Phoenix Injection Moulding Ltd won this year's President's Award for its green leaf plucking basket. (See story below) The other award winners were AMJ Industries and Services Ltd, Mabroc Teas (Pvt) Ltd, Universal Packaging (Pvt) Ltd, Packages Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Euro-Scan Exports Pvt Ltd, Standard Trading Company (Pvt) Ltd, Midaya Packaging Industries (Pvt) Ltd, Packwell Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, JF&I Printers, Tuffline Ltd, Tin Pak (Pvt) Ltd, Varna Ltd and Acme Printing and Packaging Ltd. |
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