CIES Unveils Consumer Goods Forum

MARK HAMSTRA

NEW YORK — CIES — The Food Business Forum is expected to unveil details here Thursday morning about the new global retailing and CPG association it is forming, to be called the Consumer Goods Forum.

The announcement of the new group, which has been in the planning stages for the last two years, is taking place at the 53rd Annual CIES World Food Business Summit at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel here. Few details about the new group have been released yet.

Pierre-Olivier Beckers, chief executive officer of Delhaize Group, Brussels, and chairman of CIES, revealed the name of the new association during his welcome remarks.

“History will be made tomorrow morning at this hotel,” he said, citing the need for a unified global body to share best practices in food retailing to ensure the safety and affordability of the worldwide food supply.

“Our mission is as relevant today as it was half a century ago, in fact even more so,” he said.

As previously reported, the new group is not expected to replace any national or regional organizations but instead to combine the functions of several existing global bodies, including CIES, whose missions overlap to some degree.

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