Students from Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia receive awards at UNIDO-supported LibanPack Packaging Competition
Students from Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia receive awards at UNIDO-supported LibanPack Packaging Competition
Source : UNIDO Website
01-Jun-2016
BEIRUT, 1 June 2016 – Students from Universities in Lebanon, as well as from the Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia received awards at this year’s student StarPack packaging design competition.
Financed by Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the competition was organized by LibanPack, with support from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the Association of Lebanese Industrialists. It is part of the “Projet d’accès aux marchés des produits agroalimentaires et de terroir” (PAMPAT), which aims at improving the performance, market access and socio-economic conditions of agro value chains.
The awards ceremony in Beirut featured innovative visual, structural and design packaging projects. There were a total of 10 winners from Lebanese Universities; three winners from the Egypt’s Helwan University; three winners from the Morocco’s Art’Com Sup; and three winners from the ESSTED University in Tunisia.
In addition, a Moroccan student from Art’Com Sup in Rabat, and a Lebanese student from AUST University in Beirut were awarded the Pan Arab Award for visual and structural packaging, respectively.
Lebanon, a country which has long struggled with dumping of cheap industrial exports and lack of protective measures for local production, is now finding itself further obstructed due to the dire security situation at its border with Syria. The Minister of Industry of Lebanon, Hussein Al-Haj Hassan, highlighted the importance of the young talents in Lebanese universities and their positive impact on the country’s industry. He encouraged Arab students and associations to shift from consumption towards production, and further advance the manufacturing sector of Lebanon and countries in the region.
“We are very proud to announce that, with the help of UNIDO and the creative Arab youth, the StarPack competition has strengthened and expanded our position and competitiveness in the Lebanese and Arab packaging industry,” said LibanPack Director, Soha Atallah.
Ali Badarneh, UNIDO Project Manager, added that “it is important to support the young talents and their positive impact in the Arab universities. We look forward to the launch of the 2017 StarPack competition, and expect it to be extended to all Arab countries.”