European paper industry meets challenges to competitiveness head on

Dec 03, 2004. /Lesprom Network/. The challenges facing industry today will be met head on by the European Pulp and Paper Industry when the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI), holds its Annual Meeting as part of European Paper Week 2004. Key note speaker Will Hutton, Rapporteur of the EU High Level Group on the Lisbon Agenda on Competitiveness will set the agenda, putting forward his view on the issues facing industry in today’s political and economic climate.

High level CEOs and representatives from across the European paper industry and related industries will take up the baton, debating the big issues of the day that affect competitiveness including the environment and sustainability, the particular challenges and choices they pose for industry and how the pulp and paper industry is best placed to meet them and move forward.

Mr. Hutton, an internationally respected author and political and economic commentator, said: “To succeed in making Europe the most dynamic economy in the world by 2010, we need to understand the real challenges to the competitiveness of European industries. The issues affecting today’s economy are much broader and more integrated than in the past and cannot be considered in isolation. To support our industries we need to grasp the bigger picture and ensure that all policies developed at a European level do too.”

Meeting the challenges facing competitiveness is vitally important to the European paper industry and the industry is just as important to Europe’s global competitiveness: the industry is widely acknowledged as world leader in its field in technology terms; it generates 4% of European GDP and employs a quarter of a million people directly, not including the 3.5 million jobs indirectly related to the industry in the upstream forest industry, and downstream businesses such as printing and publishing; and as 95% of the wood used by the European paper industry comes from within the EU, the sector is also responsible for maintaining vitally important jobs in rural areas.

Carl Bjornberg, Chairman of CEPI and CEO of Myllykoski Corporation commented: “The European Paper industry is one of the most sustainable and competitive industries in Europe. To stay that way, we must be an active stakeholder in the development of European policies that affect competitiveness. We must seek to ensure that decision makers find the right balance between economic, social and environmental dimensions and the impact they have on industry”

CEPI’s Annual Meeting is held during European Paper Week, which brings the different pulp and paper industry sectors together for 3 days, providing a high-level platform for discussion between industry, related organisations and EU institutions. The 2004 gathering addresses, in side events, issues of vital importance to the industry such as raw materials sourcing, climate change and packaging.

The Confederation of European Paper Industries The Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) is a non-profit-making organisation, representing 19 member countries (17 European Union Member States plus Norway and Switzerland). Through its member countries, CEPI also represents some 900 pulp, paper and board-producing companies and 1,280 mills across Europe, from small and medium-sized enterprises to multinationals.

Based in Brussels, CEPI represents the interests of the European pulp and paper industry to the European institutions. CEPI monitors and analyses EU legislation and initiatives in the fields of industrial, environmental, energy, forestry, recycling, research and fiscal policies. It provides a forum for its members to exchange information and to act on emerging issues, define common positions and make expert and constructive contributions to the industry consultation process required by the European Treaties.

CEPI possesses a wide source of information on the pulp and paper industry in Europe, and, through its members, can provide information on the industry in individual Member States.