When the sanctions imposed by the western countries against Iran were lifted, European companies have welcomed Iranian market in the post-JCOPA period. Niloufar Penkar, the chair of the board at Fujan Rahbaran (Representative of Messe Berlin, Messe Düsseldorf & Messe München in Iran) says: We all know that Iran and Germany have always been tradiotional friends and partners. We have educated students from Germany since long time ago. We had many business contracts with the Germans.

Germany was Iran’s first business partner for many years, until the sanctions began ... Since the launch JCOPA or the easing of economic sanctions against Iran, the volume of German firms' requests for entry into the Iranian market has increased dramatically. For example: At the time of the sanctions, the subsidy that the Ministry of Economy granted to German companies for participation in Iranian exhibitions was cut off, which now has not only been resumed but apparently multiplied.

The number of economic delegations that travel to Iran has dramatically increased the workload of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Iran and Germany (which is responsible for dealing with such matters). Thanks to JCOPA, a new chapter was added to our work: "Conducting specialized conferences for German business delegations".

In the past months, we had ourselves in several industrial sections holding conferences with at least representatives of 8-7 German companies who wanted to sell their machines and technologies to Iranian companies. In short, the Germans' longing for a resumption of trade with Iran is very high, and I take it as a good omen.

The presence of senior executives at the two major exhibitions in the world (Drupa and Interpack) highlights the importance of this development and marks the beginning of a new partnership between the European and Iranian printing industries.

Ms. Gloderman, director of the Drupa exhibition and global department head, said: It is now the most ideal time to enter Iran's fascinating market. Iran is a developing country with a population of 80 million and an economy that has accumulated supply in all sectors. Experts expect the economy to grow 12% only by the end of 2017, and the estimated projects include millions of dollars in foreign investment. More important than this, Iran's increasingly susceptible-to-consumption population is increasing its demand for quality print and packaging products that are not possible to produce with existing and often old-fashioned local firms in competitive form. The ideal time to enter this fascinating market is now.

She added: Although the local printing industry in Iran is more developed compared to many Middle Eastern and Near Eastern markets, there has been heavy pressure to invest in it after sanction relief in early 2016. There are huge opportunities for foreign dealers, especially since their products have been widely welcomed in the past in Iran. Also, the packaging, media and offset sectors, and the development of digital printing are very important in this country, because all of these are imported goods.

In addition Malte Seifert, Senior International Project Manager at Interpack Alliance said about this exhibition: Considering the lifting of sanctions, investment in Iran is our concern. What can be said specifically about Iran is that its market is moving slowly, but its move is quite purposeful. Given the lifting of sanctions, this market has opened up to global trade and there is a huge demand for the Iranian economy in all sectors. In the packaging and processing industry, the educated and relatively young populations of the country are increasingly demanding packaged products. To meet this demand, manufacturers also need modern machinery and services.

This is exactly what the exhibiting companies are doing at Interpack and other Global InterPack Exhibitions, and they are proud of it. Companies that are present in Tehran's pacprocess must provide technologies and services that meet this demand.

We should now wait and see how the presence of prestigious brands in the world of printing and publishing in Iran could be the source of positive developments for the country's printing and printing industry.