The First Balkan Print Forum took place on 26th of October 2006. Executives and members of the printing federations and managing directors and print specialists from Bulgaria, Romania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece had an initial meeting in Velingrad, Bulgaria. Hosts were the Bulgarian Printing Industry Federation and manroland Bulgaria. The main item on the agenda was the foundation of a Balkans Print Forum made up of the printing associations of the individual countries. Co-initiator manroland AG took over patronage of the project.

The event motto of the First Balkan Print Forum was “New Developments and New Potential for the Printing Industry”. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Gerd Finkbeiner, CEO of manroland AG came to Bulgaria for the foundation of the Forum. He spoke to the group of print experts from Southeastern Europe about the development of the printing industry in Europe and Eastern Europe in particular, about major innovations in the printing industry today, as well as about process management and optimisation in printing companies. Gerd Finkbeiner assured the gathering of manroland's support in improving the quality, profitability and competitiveness of their printing companies.

The delegates to the First Balkan Print Forum held in Velingrad were very satisfied with the stated objectives. The founding members and possible new members planed to meet regularly in future to exchange experiences and know-how, to make new contacts and intensify existing ones. They also agreed to support one another in any joint projects that may eventuate in the region. This concerns for example the positioning of manroland in Bulgaria, and also manroland's support of the Bulgarian printing industry and especially the support for education of print specialists. A program for education support was started in Bulgaria at the beginning of 2007.

During his stay, Prof. Gerd Finkbeiner met with Mr. Sergei Stanishev, Prime Minister of Bulgaria, and other representatives of the Bulgarian government who were very supportive of the idea.