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United Nations Buyers' Trip Leads to FACHPACK
The world is visiting Nuremberg: few people associate the United Nations with shopping. But the UN also has purchasing experts, who will be learning about sustainable packaging at FACHPACK 2024. Exhibitors and visitors will have the opportunity to meet the UN team in a seminar.
Its central tasks are the maintenance of world peace and international security, the enforcement of human rights and the economic and social progress of all peoples: As an international organization, the United Nations is active in many different ways. Accordingly, the volume of orders has been increasing continuously for years. The UN purchases goods and services worldwide through tenders. In 2022, the total value of procurements amounted to around 30 billion US dollars. The organization concludes supply contracts with companies from almost all countries.
In line with the diverse activities of the UN system, its procurement system offers opportunities for various sectors and companies, including in the field of packaging and packaging technology. Procurement is centralized for the entire UN, its subsidiary bodies and specialized agencies on one platform, the UN Global Marketplace. Companies can register there and respond to tenders.
Seminar for FACHPACK Exhibitors and Visitors
From September 24 to 26, 2024, the German-Danish Chamber of Commerce, on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection, is organizing an information trip for United Nations procurement personnel with a focus on packaging and packaging technology. The trip leads to the European trade fair FACHPACK. This is a project-related funding measure as part of the market development program for small and medium-sized German companies (SMEs).
In a seminar on September 24, the AHK Denmark will inform German companies from the industry about the procurement system of the United Nations. The large procurement volume of the UN offers companies good business opportunities, but the potential of German companies is far from exhausted: Germany was in 19th place on the list of countries with a share of 372 million US dollars in 2022, according to the report. The value of goods and services purchased in the packaging and packaging technology sector has amounted to around 18 billion US dollars since 2013.
Climate protection, sustainability and digitalization are the major cross-cutting issues of our time. The German packaging industry could become a global pioneer in the development of a climate-neutral packaging industry and help support the global packaging sector. In particular, the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and subsequent supply shortages have highlighted that international cooperation and coordination are crucial to address the challenges facing the packaging industry. Joint efforts are key to overcoming supply shortages and ensuring sustainable packaging solutions that protect the environment and promote the well-being of people worldwide.
Comprehensive Sustainability Strategy
The UN’s sustainability strategy encompasses the areas of ecology, economy, and social issues. This broader perspective on sustainability shows a clear departure from the original purely ecological approach to environmental protection. In addition to the consideration of materials, production and manufacturing processes, and energy sources used, social aspects are now also being intensively analyzed and continuously improved.
The issue of peace also affects the packaging sector, according to the UN: “The use of packaging can help to promote peace, justice and strong institutions by supporting the provision of relief supplies in crisis areas. This is particularly important in situations where infrastructure is damaged or destroyed.”
The German companies registered for the seminar will receive information about UVN's procurement system on September 24. They will then be able to discuss business opportunities with UN purchasing staff for the packaging and packaging technology sector in pre-arranged B2B “speed dating” meetings. The registration deadline for participation in the event is June 28, 2024.
Further information on the business trip and registration is available from the Chamber of Commerce. An overview of other projects in the market development program for SMEs can be found at www.gtai.de/mep.
“As FACHPACK, we are of course happy to support this trip, as it is a perfect fit with our guiding theme ‘Transition in Packaging’ and as NürnbergMesse we are also aligning our actions with the UN’s 17 goals.”, says Heike Slotta, Director of FACHPACK.
