Who is ABWA

One of the largest and fastest growing International Association is Asia and The Middle East. The ABWA has gone through many changes in its short life as the dynamics of the group have changed. Founded in September 1992, it was initially named the "Far East Chapter" which was later changed to the "Asia Pacific Chapter" and then to the Asia Chapter. With the formation of the new International Council of Bottled Water Associations taking over the role and position of the International Bottled Water Association which is now confined to the United States of America territory only, the Asia Chapter has now become independent and is officially called the Asia Middle East Bottled Water Association (ABWA) since May 2000. ABWA has its own logo, its own training body and a common standard for regulations and inspections through the application of the Model Code. The Model Code is mandatory through mandatory annual inspections for all bottler association members of ICBWA and its International Chapter members. Each member's factory must also have a Certified Plant Operator (CPO). ABWA is a founder member of ICBWA.

ABWA's Activities

The first Chapter Convention was held successfully in Jakarta, Indonesia on 7-9 January 1993. The second Convention was held in Bangkok, Thailand on 25-27 August 1994, and the third in Jakarta, Indonesia from 29 August to 1 September 1995. It was decided by the Board at this meeting that the Convention will be held every two years instead of every one year.

The first Biennial Convention/Workshop & Exhibition (but the fourth Convention/Workshop) was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on 17-19 May 1997 with great success. The second Biennial Convention/Workshop & Exhibition was held in Hong Kong on 24-26 May 1999, with even more participants and more current challenging seminar topics. In 1999, the Chapter completed its first industry and market survey on 50 Asia and Middle East countries, the first of its kind, through Zenith International of the U.K. Where possible, ABWA would like to update this data on a regular basis to keep consistency of information and will be presented at the Conventions and Workshops, printed in our website "Members-Only" section and reported in our magazine. In 2001, the Biennial Convention and workshop was held in Bali, with over 450 participants attending. Then in Chennai India in 2004 and New Delhi, India in 2005. Both Conventions and Trade Fairs were attended by over 4000 professional visitors. ABWA did not hold a Convention in 2003 due to the SARS issue. For 2007, no individual bottled water Trade Fair was held, however, ABWA had a very well attended CPO and CDO (Certified Depot Owners) workshop and a Board and Executive Committee meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 02-04 August 2007. A Trade Fair together with a Plastic-Packaging-Printing-Food Technology Exhibition was held simultaneously with ABWA's CPO and CDO from 01-04 August 2007 at the same location. The Trade Fair was visited by over 15,000 professionals.

A similar cooperation will be held from 06-09 August 2008 at the Jakarta International Expo Kemayoran together with the Food Technology - Plastic - Packaging - Printing - added with a Cold Chain Pavilion and a Water Hall. A Certified Plant Operator workshop will also be held from 08-09 August 2008, at the same location. Expected professional visitors for the Trade Fair is over 25,000.

The Japan Bottled Water Association, a Chapter of ABWA will hold its first Convention and Trade Fair working together with Eco-Products on 11-12-13 December 2008, in Tokyo, Japan at the Tokyo Big Sight East Exhibition Hall. The professional visitors are expected to be over 200,000 . (Visit our Trade Fair Section further up our website).

Permanent Secretariat

A Permanent Secretariat was formed and operational since October 1993 based in Jakarta. The activities of the Secretariat is, among others, to keep and maintain good communications with members, act as a source of information and provide technical assistance when required either direct or through appointed Technical Consultants, and to keep an on-line link with Headquarters, update data of all members, recruit new members, distribute materials on technical matters/Plant Operator Manuals/Plant Inspection Handbook, negotiate cost and liaise with officially appointed inspection bodies for the Mandatory Inspection Program, and the Certified Plant Operator examination time-table, schedule inspection visits to members' individual plants, organize workshops/training programs/conventions, certification programs, and other events beneficial for members. The Secretariat also publishes the Asia Middle East Bottled Water magazine twice a year, monthly (or more) e-newsletters, monthly technical bulletins and other regulatory or market information.

Annual Mandatory Inspections

Pre-Inspections and Annual Mandatory Inspections are done through third parties contracted by ABWA. For Asia (except for Indonesia) and the Middle East, this function is assigned to Johnson Diversey Company (JDC). Specifically for Indonesia, ABWA has appointed P.T. Suhita Jaya to perform this role with an emphasize on training, inspecting and certifying refill-stations. As a result of the prolonged monetary crisis in Indonesia since 1998 and the incapability of the government to install proper municipal water supply infrastructure, refill-station business mushroomed and has reached a number of more than 7000 units, compared to about 300 branded bottled water manufacturing facilities, throughout the 17,000 island of Indonesia. Both organizations have been approved as authorized inspectors by the International Council of Bottled Water Associations (ICBWA).

More details on this is available in the next pages.

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