Rohan Victoria appointed as Asian Packaging Federation VP

Sri Lanka is honoured by the appointment of Rohan Victoria as Vice President of the Asian Packaging Federation (APF), the apex body of the packaging industry in the Asia 
Pacific region.
The APF 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 recognized 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 recognized 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, which 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received full membership of the APF during the last five decades, four member organisations from four countries have withdrawn their membership due to financial constrains leaving 16 member organisation in the membership register of the federation at the moment.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 APF way back in 1978  during the reign of Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging Founder President Stanley Wickremaratne, who himself became a Vice President and later the 13th President of the APF in year 1992 and 1993. 
Victoria, who is Iris Trading Ltd Managing Director, became a Member of the Council of Management of the Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging, representing Aitken Spence Printing & Packaging (Pvt.) Ltd in 1995 was appointed as President of the institute in November 2016, prior to which he held the positions of Assistant Secretary, General Secretary, Vice President and Deputy President covering a  period of two and half decades.
Victoria, as President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging, led the Sri Lankan delegation at the annual events of the APF consisting of its board meeting, Asia Star Contest for excellence in Packaging and the Packaging Congress, which were held in Mumbai from December 15 to 17, 2016 hosted by the Indian Institute of Packaging.
The meeting of the Board of Administration of the APF and the APF Congress, which were held on December 16 and 17 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 December 16, 2016 unanimously decided to appoint Victoria, SLIP President, 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 the 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.