European association hopes seminar will help revive market links
Iran The European Rotogravure Association (ERA) supported what it describes as Iran’s first international gravure seminar on 29 May in Tehran. Organised by the Iranian Toranj Group in co-operation with ERA, the event attracted about 150 participants, who included professionals from the Iranian gravure industry as well as students from the gr
aphic faculty of Tehran University and colleges.
The Toranj Group, which invited the ERA delegation, conducts seminars and educational training courses for the Iranian printing industry. Headed by secretary general James Siever, the ERA delegation included experts from member firms such as Windmöller & Hölscher, Janoschka, Heimann, GMG and Daetwyler, who gave technical lectures at the conference. The delegation also visited the Permanent Gallery of Printing and Packaging and some packaging gravure printers in the outskirts of Tehran. ERA said the visits demonstrated the great technical skills of the Iranian gravure industry. Despite longstanding sanctions against Iran, the sector has maintained and developed its capability to produce all types of modern packaging material to a competitive standard. The sanctions have triggered the Iranian printing industry’s recent shift towards East Asian technology suppliers from the Far East. However, ERA said Iranian printers would be interested in reviving their strong traditional ties with European – and particularly German – technology if Iran’s external relations thaw.