South Africa to boost Suffolk trade with Frugalpac Ipswich

South African High Commissioner to the UK, Jeremiah Nyamane Mamabolo, and new Honorary Consul to South Africa Bassim Haidar visited Frugalpac.

The visit coincided with Ipswich Town's promotion-clinching victory and Frugalpac being awarded the King's Award for Enterprise.

Mr Haidar said: “I love Ipswich and it’s great to see them promoted to the Premier League. Now I’m looking forward to getting Ipswich and Suffolk into the Premier League in terms of trade between the UK and South Africa."

He added that South Africa aspires to strengthen trade links given their close relation to Frugalpac. 

Frugalpac is the world's first paper bottle company that can store wines and spirits.

The firm's chief executive Malcolm Waugh added: “We were honoured to welcome Mr Haidar and the South African High Commissioner to Frugalpac to brief them about our Frugal Bottle, the export of our Frugal Bottle Assembly Machines and to celebrate our King’s Award.

“South Africa has been an early adopter to our paper bottles with Journey’s End Vineyards with Interpunkt wines near Cape Town and Stellenbosch Vineyards’ Arniston Bay wines using our Frugal Bottle."

Mr Mamabolo and Mr Haidar met with other businesses as well (Image: Larkin PR)

During the visit, Mr Haidar and Mr Mamabolo attended a roundtable meeting with local businesses and Suffolk County Council leader Matthew Hicks, held by Suffolk Chamber of Commerce. 

The chamber’s international trade manager Koyas Miah said: “The Suffolk businesses present were pleased to meet with this high-powered South African delegation.

“Home to three significant ports and close to London and its major airports, Suffolk has a proud international trade track record and this meeting provided the perfect platform for them to better understand the scale and type of future opportunities within the South African economy.”