SPE looks to continue to expand its conference brand internationally

Co-organized by SPE's Middle East Section and supported by the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA), ANTEC Dubai attracted 170 attendees to a program that included more than 60 original peer-reviewed technical presentations as well as workshops on injection molding and thermoforming. Keynote speakers delivering plenary addresses included Dr. Hoshiar Molod of Tasnee Petrochemicals; Dr. Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun, secretary general of the GPCA; Mr. Geert Haentjens, director at Mattex Dubai, LLC; and William R. (Bill) Carteaux, president and CEO of U.S.-based SPI.

The event was the first SPE ANTEC to take place in the region, according to Raed Al-Zu'bi, chairman of the conference and president of SPE's Middle East Section."Holding this inaugural conference in Dubai underscores not only the importance of the Gulf States region for our industry but also SPE's commitment to bring qualified knowledge and networking opportunities to the plastics community around the globe," he said. 

SPE will continue to expand its conference brand internationally, said SPE CEO Willem De Vos. "In December we will hold our second ANTEC Mumbai in India, extending it to three days after our successful 2012 event there and anticipating more than 500 attendees," he said."And there are plans to take the ANTEC conference to Latin America and China in subsequent years."

SPE will continue to produce its annual ANTEC conference in the U.S., which the association called the "largest plastics technical conference in the world." The next conference takes place April 28-30, 2014 in Las Vegas, with 600 confirmed speakers and 2,000 anticipated attendees.