Intl meet on rubber to be held in kochi in October

Government officials from 11 rubber-growing Asian countries will discuss the opportunities and challenges facing the rubber industry at a five-day international conference scheduled to take place here from October 4-8.

The conference would be the 33rd assembly of the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) which has Cambodia, India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New guinnea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam as its members. The association represents 94 per cent of the total rubber-growing area in the world.

According to the programme schedule, the meet on rubber will be held on October 6 with the theme 'Natural rubber industry in the new decade – Opportunities, Challenges and Working Avenues'.

Apart from discussions on various developments in rubber cultivation, production and consumption, study reports prepared by the ANRPC and the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG), covering emerging aspects of rubber cultivation in the next decade (2011-20), would be presented at the conference.

Along with the assembly, there will be meetings of the executive committee and various technical committees of ANRPC. The venue for both the meetings is the Hotel Le Meridien.

ANRPC was founded in 1970 with Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) as its headquarters. Vietnam holds the chair of ANRPC currently while India is the vice chair.