NASSAU, Bahamas - What strategies do global players have for economically countering the enormous costs pressure, the rising tide of legislation and saturated West European markets? For the second time, leading paint magnates met at the Coatings Summit in the Bahamas at the end of January to analyze the global economic situation, discuss lucrative business models and jointly look ahead to the future.

Building on the successful first global Coatings Summit in 2003, hosts Neville Petersen, president of IPPIC (International Paint and Printing Ink Council) and Jürgen Nowak, publisher at Vincentz Network, again issued invitations to the two-day coatings strategy conference. Eminent speakers, including the very best of the world's top players, such as PPG, Sherwin Williams and BASF Coatings, presented their individual "chess strategies" for a sustainable, prosperous coatings future.