Though NPE 2015 (www.npe.org), billed as one of the world's largest plastics industry exhibitions, is still more than a year away, slowly but surely, a profile for various countries participating at the US mega fair is beginning to take shape. SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association (Washington DC / USA; www.plasticsindustry.org), organiser of the triennial event, has recently named Turkish plastics industry association Pagder (Istanbul; www.pagder.org) as the official NPE 2015 sales agent in Turkey. Established in 1969, the association counts more than 365 companies as members.

Among its duties leading up to the 23-27 March 2015 event in Orlando, Florida, Pagder is responsible for the sale of exhibition space to Turkish companies as well as for organising the country's first multi-exhibitor pavilion at the sprawling fairgrounds. The pavilion project will be overseen in cooperation with the Istanbul Chemicals and Products Exporters Union (IKMIB).

SPI's marketing and sales director, Brad Williams, commented on the announcement: “Turkey plays an increasingly important role in the global marketplace and Pagder is the country’s leading plastics industry organisation. We expect that SPI’s alignment with Pagder will contribute to building a truly prominent presence for Turkey at the show.” According to Williams, a record number of Turkish entities have already expressed plans to participate in next year's event.