Fifty years is a milestone in any organisation's life that deserves the biggest celebration and the recent European Association of Chemical Distributors (FECC) Congress held in Rimini, Italy certainly lived up to its billing. Delegates were treated to two evenings of celebrations that left them thoroughly impressed - as well as exhausted - but more important was the programme of speakers that had been prepared and the extent of the debate that resulted. 'Pathways to the future' was the title of the Congress, which opened with an address from moderator Jeffrey Ellwood, who commented that "In order to plan for the future, you must gain accurate and timely info." Fittingly, the first presentation of the day, given by Christian Jourquin, manager of Solvay's chemicals sector, addressed the major challenges that the industry can expect to meet in the coming year. Christian claimed that these will centre on the imple-mentation of an "image overhaul" within the chemical industry. This, he believes, is ab-solutely necessary if the sector is to secure its future by appealing to the younger gener-ation.
展开▼
