A new industry body for the beverage industry, the Asia Pacific Regional Beverage Group, was launched at the Ausdrinks Regional Beverages Summit in Sydney this week.
The new group falls under the umbrella of the International Council of Beverages Associations (ICBA), and will leverage off the Australian Beverages Council.
“About eighteen months ago started to be approached by different colleagues and peers in region for insights, information and assistance on a range of matters,” Australian Beverages Council CEO Geoff Parker said.
“This led us to start to think about how we could be smarter and more proactively provide assistance and support and structure into the region and leveraging off what we have achieved here in Australia.”
“We've also embraced the learnings of other regions around the world where there was strong coordination such as North America and the USA and Europe.
“We deliberated over the best model to deliver services into the region... So we assessed the different options and ran a cost benefit analysis and determined that establishing a regional arm under an existing group would enable service delivery into the region sooner rather than later,” Parker said.
The Asia Pacific Regional Beverage Group will be open to all companies and all associations in the region, and will aim to provide real-time support to companies and associations in the region to enhance and protect the non-alcoholic beverage industry.
International Council of Beverages Associations executive director, Kate Loatman said: “My sincere thanks to those who have spent so much time and energy in the discussion about how est to create a nimble proactive resource that can collaborate effectively with our beverage association s and allies within this region. “
Representatives from the Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo Asia Pacific were instrumental in setting up the new group, Loatman said.
