An agreement between FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and IMA for the development of food packaging in the poorer parts of the world has been signed in Rome. Established in 1961, IMA is world leader in the design and manufacture of automatic machines for the processing and packaging of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, tea and coffee. The Group has about 4,600 employees, more than 2,300 of whom overseas, and can count on 34 production plants in Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, India and China. On 7 October 2015, the IMA’s Chairman Alberto Vacchii and Laurent Thomas, FAO Assistant Director-General (Technical Cooperation Department) signed an agreement for the execution of the project “Improving food packaging for small and medium agro-enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa”. The project will last for three years and IMA has allocated a total contribution of 450,000 euros. The project will target the sub-Saharan region of Africa, in particular small and medium -sized enterprises in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia. The International Trade Center (ITC) in Geneva will also participate in this project. ITC is the centre for international trade, affiliated to the World Trade Organisation and to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which provides technical assistance in the area of trade. “It is a question of intervening on food waste with appropriate technologies, – said IMA’s Chairman Alberto Vacchi – given that FAO reckons that this type of waste means throwing away one third of all food produced for human consumption; in this situation, packaging can play a strategic role in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. The possibility of FAO forming partnerships with private groups – concluded Alberto Vacchi opens up new opportunities for international cooperation,which should allow companies to express their social role to a much greater extent”. This project was conceived as part of the SAVE FOOD initiative, which IMA has been supporting since 2013. Along with FAO, it involves the leading manufacturers of automatic packaging machines Source: comunicaffe.com/ima-signs-agreement-with-fao-for-the-development-of-food-packaging-in-africa/