The International Media Production Zone (iMPZ), a 50 million sq ft free zone dedicated to the development of the media production, printing, publishing and packaging industries, recently hosted the judging ceremony for the World Packaging Organisation’s (WPO) World Star Packaging Design Awards for Students.

Fifteen senior delegates from the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) and the United Nation’s International Trade Centre (ITC), together with representatives from the Asian Packaging Federation (APF), met in Dubai to review entries for the first student design awards competition. Mohamed Bin Ghalib, iMPZ’s executive director, and John Larson, iMPZ’s business development manager, attended the proceedings where the work of 36 finalists was reviewed. Present were WPO secretary-general Carl Olsmats, Jacky Charbonneau of the ITC, Dharma Ratnayake, president of the APF and Rajiv Dhar, director of the Indian Institute of Packaging.
Entries were submitted from many countries around the world including Turkey, South Africa and the UAE. Notably, the winner of the UAE’s own packaging design awards in 2004, an innovative tissue box presentation by Sharjah’s Obeid Hamda, has been put forward as one of the finalists. Winners will be announced during the next WPO board meeting to be held in Prague during October.
Commenting on behalf of the iMPZ, Bin Ghalib said: “When we first planned the development, we decided to focus on packaging as a key business area. We knew that this was a strong and vital element of media production on a global, regional and local basis.”
In addition to the award judging, iMPZ hosted the bi-annual board meeting of the APF on the second day of meetings.  
The region’s own packaging association is being formed within the iMPZ umbrella with the guidance of the WPO, members of the industry and Gulf Pack, the region’s only packaging trade fair.