The Second Balkan Print Forum meeting under the patronage of manroland AG was a real success. It showed the importance and necessity of the initiative for the printing industry of the Balkan region. Executives and members of the printing federations from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Serbia and Turkey met on the 14th of November 2007 in Athens, Greece, expressing in a very convincing manner their affiliation to the Forum. Pointed out were the main targets of collaboration for the founders and the participants in the Forum – to exchange experiences and know-how, to make new contacts and intensify existing ones, to support one another in joint projects in the Balkan region.

Host of the Second Balkan Print Forum was the Hellenic Federation of Printing Media Communication. Main sponsor was the patron manroland AG. Other sponsors were the Greek companies Graphics S.A., Mel S.A. and Procarton.

Thomas Hauser, manroland Executive Vice President Corporate Marketing & Communications, presented the trends and perspectives in the printing and media industry. Efthimios Nalbanis, Mel S.A., dedicated his presentation to the theme “Carton Promote Brands”. Domniki Papathanassiou and Philippos Papathanassiou, Graphics S. A., presented the subject “Value Added Printing for sheet-fed offset”. Beatrice Klose, Secretary General of Intergraf, spoke about the Competitiveness of the European Graphic Industry.

Thomas Hauser accentuated manroland’s readiness to support the printing industry of the region in improving the quality, profitability and competitiveness of their printing companies. “The Balkan Print Forum had its premiere last year in Bulgaria and was a great success right from the start. Now Athens gave us as initiators the perfect chance to intensify our customer contacts, to support the regional print and media market and to develop the exchange of experiences within the region. Last but not least the Forum is supposed to offer the Balkan print community a stable and sustainable added value discussion platform. For us it was great, too, to meet all the relevant association representatives as well as our local partners.”
An important point on the agenda of the Forum was the signing of the Balkan Federations Constituent Agreement. The agreement was signed voluntarily and for an indefinite period of time. The Balkan Printing Industry Federations agreed on following collaboration:

1. Regular exchange of information about the activities of the Printing Industry Federations.

2. Mutual support in the realization of new regional printing projects.

3. Exchange of experiences and know-how in regular meetings; new contacts and strengthening of existing ones with partners from the region.

4. Representation of the interests of the Balkan Print Forum members in European and international initiatives.

5. Mutual support during local and international print exhibitions and trade shows.

On the 14th of November 2007 the Balkan Federations Constituent Agreement was signed by the Albanian Printing Federation, the Printing Industry Union of Bulgaria, the Hellenic Federation of Printing Media, the Transilvanian Printing Association, the Serbian Printing Union and the Turkish Printing Federation BASEV. Three weeks later, on the 5th of December, the Printing Federation of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia also signed the Agreement.

On the 15th of November 2007 the foreign guests had the possibility to visit the Haidemenos SA establishment nearby Athens, where they saw in production the new LITHOMAN IV, long grain, 48 pages.