Rohan Victoria appointed Vice President of Asian Packaging Federation

The Asian Packaging Federation has appointed a Vice President from Sri Lanka to its Board of Administration for the fourth time in its 50 years of existence.

The APF, the only international packaging organisation representing the Asian Packaging Industry was founded in 1967 in Kyoto, Japan with five countries as founder members comprising China, India, Japan, Korea and the Philippines.

One nationally recognised leading packaging organisation from each country in the Asia Pacific region is eligible to be a full member of the APF except for the Peoples Republic of China, the only country with two nationally recognised packaging organisations been given the opportunity to receive full membership of the Federation considering the total population of the country. 

Of 20 national packaging organisations from 19 countries from the Asia Pacific region who had received full membership of the APF during the last five decades, four member organisations from four countries have withdrawn their membership due to financial constrains leaving 16 member organisation in the membership register of the Federation at the moment.

The Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging being the only leading organisation representing the Sri Lankan packaging industry joined the Asian Packaging Federation way back in 1978 during the reign of the founder President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging Stanley Wickremaratne who himself became a Vice President and later the 13th President of the Asian Packaging Federation in year 1992 and 1993.

Rohan Victoria, the Managing Director of Iris Trading Ltd., Colombo, who became a Member of the Council of Management of the Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging representing Aitken Spence Printing & Packaging Ltd. in 1995 was appointed as the President of the Institute in November 2016 prior to which he held the positions of Assistant Secretary, General Secretary, Vice President and the Deputy President covering a period of two and half decades.

Rohan Victoria the President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging led the Sri Lankan Delegation at the annual events of the Asian Packaging Federation consisting of its Board meeting, Asia Star Contest for excellence in Packaging and the Packaging Congress which were held in Mumbai from 15 to 17 December 2016 hosted by the Indian Institute of Packaging.

The meeting of the Board of Administration of the Asian Packaging Federation and the APF Congress which were held on 16 and 17 December at Hotel Leela in Mumbai were attended by more than 30 delegates representing nine member organisations from nine countries.

With the strong support from the ‘College of Honorary Members’ of the APF who met prior to the Board meeting chaired by Dharma Ratnayake a Past President and Honorary member of APF and a Past President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging; the members of the Board of Administration of the APF at its meeting held on 16 December 2016 unanimously decided to appoint Rohan Victoria, President of SLIP to fill the vacancy for the second Vice President held by J.D.C. Perera, and also to elevate him up to the position of first Vice President that fell vacant due to the demise of former first Vice President representing the Packaging Council of Singapore .

The Board of Administration of the APF passed a resolution in 2004 to change the existing statutes of the APF that limited the period of service of a President from two years to three years to make room for the incumbent president at that time Dharma Ratnayake from Sri Lanka to serve the Federation as its President an extra year considering the yeoman service he had rendered for the development of the packaging industry in the Asian region during his first two years. This ruling is to be put into practice only under special circumstances, which will be determined by the board and ratified by the General Assembly.

The founder President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging Stanley Wickremaratne became a Vice President of the Asian Packaging Federation in 1989 who later in 1991 was elevated to the position of its President and subsequently ended up becoming a Vice President of the World Packaging Organisation. During this period the Secretariat of the APF was shifted to Sri Lanka with Dharma Ratnayake of SLIP being appointed as its Secretary General.

A decade later in 2002 Dharma Ratnayake, one time Secretary General of the APF was appointed as its Vice President who was elevated to the rank of President a year later. He too ended up becoming a Vice President of the World Packaging Organisation. 

Within a half a century of existence, among the 20 National Packaging organisations that received full membership of the Asian Packaging Federation, (reduced to 16 members at present) the Sri Lanka Institute Packaging holds an esteemed position considering the achievements of four of its members who represented the Institute at the Board of administration of the APF in their capacities as Presidents of the Sri Lanka Institute.