Panelexpo 2009 is going strong. A meeting of the Steering Committee for “Panelexpo” was held at Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi under the chairmanship of Shri S. K. Thade, I.A.S., Director, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion and Government of India. The meeting was attended by senior officials from Govt. organizations like Indian Plywood Industries Research & Training Institute (IPIRTI), Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Indian Council of Forestry Research & Education (ICFRE), International Network for Bamboo & Rattan (INBAR), Chemicals & Allied Products Export Promotion Council (CAPEXIL), Forest Research Institute, Dehradun (FRI), a number of top industry representatives including from Sarda Plywood, Nuchem Ltd., Arunachal Plywood, Shirdi Industries, A. K. Lumbers, The Decorative Laminates, Ecoboard Industries Ltd., Leo Timber, Lumber Tech etc., and representatives from a number of trade associations including Federation of Indian Plywood & Panel Industry (FIPPI) which is the apex body of the Plywood & Panel Industry. Mr. Binu Nanu, Managing Director, Fair Design India Pvt. Ltd. made a presentation of the current status of the fair and informed that despite recession, the fair has received very encouraging response including overseas participation from countries like Germany, Italy, UK, China, Malaysia and Bangladesh. Regional Director of CAPEXIL mentioned that CAPEXIL will organize group participation of its members in Panelexpo and is promoting this event in a big way including at its two day BUYER SELLER MEET on 25 – 26 February 2009. Panelexpo will have one day technical seminar organized by FIPPI and one day seminar on furniture designing conducted by National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Many requests were received from industry experts including 3 from USA to address the technical seminar. A committee was formed under the chairmanship of Dr. C. N. Pandey, Director and IPIRTI to co-ordinate the seminar. A number of suggestions were given to increase the foot falls. The organizers of the fair agreed to implement the suggestions and projected that total number of visitors will be about 15,000 as against 5,800 for the previous edition held in 2007. The Ministry will write to all concerned Govt. Departments to extend all possible support to Panelexpo fair which is being organized by the Federation of Indian Plywood and Panel Industry (FIPPI) and Fair Design India Pvt. Ltd. (FDI) under the aegis of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Environment and Forests, and Planning Commission, Government of India. The fair will be held from 2 – 5 April 2009 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.