The Polish Association of Disinfection and Pest Control Professionals has been operating in Poland for over 15 years. The major objectives of the activities of the Association include:

- provision of knowledge about modern disinfection and pest control,

- professional skill upgrading and

- cquisition of information about new technologies.

The Association realizes its objectives through the organization of training courses – both for its members and for non-members – and of national conferences. For many years, our milieu thought about organizing an international exhibition and conference. Poland – a country with almost 40 million citizens – has experienced a true economic boom during the last 20 years. This involved the establishment of numerous companies in industries, where disinfection and pest control services constitute the basis for the maintenance of proper hygienic conditions. International concerns manufacturing, warehousing and selling food opened their plants and trade networks. Improved standards of life and work of people led to an increase of hygienic standards in the surroundings of men. Such violent transformation forced companies providing professional disinfection and pest control services to use modern technologies and, first of all, to broaden their knowledge in the domain of their business activities. At present, we can say that a large number of Polish companies providing professional disinfection and pest control services meet the most stringent world standards and have deep knowledge in the field. Programmes of plant protection against pests prepared in Poland and the related performance documentation are indicated by many international auditors as the model of proper approach to the issue.

On one hand, the ConExPest exhibition and conference allows Polish companies to be in touch with world novelties. ON the other hand, it shows the world that there are huge opportunities in modern Poland and neighbouring countries, like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine and Belarus.

We invited national associations from the Czech Republic (Sdružení Pracovníků Dezinfekce, Dezinsekce a Deratizace České Republiky) and Slovakia (Cech Profesionálov DDD) and Hungary (MaKOSZ) to co-organize ConExPest. We faced a positive response that strengthened our conviction that there is a need to organize such undertaking that will be open for all those interested from any country and that will provide an environment for the exchange of experience and information on the development of the disinfection and pest control domain.