The fifth edition of the Paper Tech Expo, an international exhibition of paper related machineries, chemicals, raw materials and finished products, will be held from February 2 to 4.

Bangladesh Paper Mills Association (BPMA) President and Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan will inaugurate the three-day expo at International Convention City Bashundhara in the capital on Thursday.

Organiser of the expo Bangladesh Exhibitions Pvt Ltd Managing Director Md Shakhawat Hossain came up with these information on Tuesday at a press briefing at Dhaka Reporter’s Unity in the capital.

"The exhibition, which will start after a three-year hiatus due to coronavirus pandemic, will introduce new generation entrepreneurs with modern technologies, equipment, raw materials and all other necessary goods for setting up and improving paper industry of Bangladesh further," he said the reporters.

Shakhawat said the paper industry of Bangladesh constructed a strong basement and is now producing world class papers.

"Once we had to import newsprint and A4 size paper on a regular basis. But now our paper mills are meeting about 60 percent of our domestic demand. We have companies like Bashundhara Paper Mills, which use the most contemporary machines to provide finest paper in the market," he said.

According to him, some 100 paper mills of the country have the capacity of producing around 12,00,000 metric tonnes of paper, while Bangladesh has a demand of about 20,00,000 tonnes of paper per year.

He said some 150 companies, including companies from 16 foreign countries like India, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Oman, KSA, UAE, Italy, Egypt, Germany, USA, Taiwan, Japan, Finland and Turkey, will participate in the exhibition.

The expo will remain open from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm for all.

Bangladesh Exhibitions Pvt Ltd Head of Operation Md Rakib Hossain and Director of Future Event and Exhibition Pvt Ltd Sheikh Pappu Raaz were also present in the briefing.