Home Business & Finance Gulfood Exhibition 2018 hosts “The Future of Brands” stand

Gulfood Exhibition 2018 hosts “The Future of Brands” stand

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DUBAI: For the first time, Japan Tobacco International (JTI) takes part at the world renowned Gulfood exhibition with the stand “The Future of Brands” (www.thefutureofbrands.com). A stand designed for food and drinks companies with brands facing tougher regulations and are at risk of being excluded from discussions on their industries’ future.

“JTI has been on the front line to encourage dialogue between industry and regulators for many years. We believe that businesses need to have a voice in regulatory decision-making and we encourage more governments to organize meaningful consultations with all relevant stakeholders when considering new regulations”, says Graham Gibbons, JTI’s Vice President and General Manager Middle East.“An open dialogue between Businesses and Governments fosters an environment for regulations that are fit for purpose. This generates business confidence in the operating environment and therefore fuels further economic growth,” added Gibbons.

To Graham, companies across different sectors are invited to help promote regulations that will be in the public interest, supported by evidence, and ‘fit for purpose’. To him, the UAE has always been a regional leader in establishing such a balanced, modern regulatory framework and ‘developing such a dialogue here will be of great benefit for all stakeholders and consumers in the GCC’.

Food and drinks companies are subject to taxes, pictorial health warnings and even ‘plain’ packaging – a measure which bans any form of branding on packs. Whether it’s a soda drink, an energy drink, a chocolate bar, excessive regulation not only impacts large product manufacturers but also small and medium enterprises, including design and packaging businesses.

“In some markets, regulators ‘copy-paste’ tobacco-style regulations into other sectors without considering the effects, the degree and extent of success”, adds Hadi Sleiman, JTI’s Corporate Affairs and Communication Director Middle East. “In Australia, the first country to implement plain packaging for tobacco products in 2012, the latest Government data shows that the long term downward trend in smoking prevalence came to a halt between 2013 and 2016. Plain packaging hasn’t changed whether people smoke, it has changed what they smoke. Between two products, smokers now choose the cheapest. This includes illegal tobacco, which has increased by over 20% after the introduction of the policy”, he concludes. News Desk

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