Print Industry and its Custodians, Expectations and Realities was the title of a specialized session of for the 2nd National Quality Management Conference in Print.

IBNA: The session was arranged on the first day of ht 2-day conference at the Research Center of Culture, Arts and Architecture on July 14, 2012. The experts attending the session unanimously stressed the need for a single, unified management system in the industry.

The session was held in the presence of Yousef Afrash, Babak Abedini, Amir Hussein Ghasemi, Mohammad Bitarafan, Ali Nikousokhan, Meisam Heshmat Khah and Khodayar Sadeghi (all print industry experts and officials).

In his address Afrash, caretaker of the print affairs office of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, stated that the print industry entered the country when it was regarded the sole custodian of publication issues so supervision over content of the published books were laid upon the ministry’s shoulder. Moreover, the ministry became the center issuing permissions for establishing print houses.

“In macro levels, the print industry requires it own management system to make policies for the industry,” he asserted.

He further added that given the industry’s development in the country in the past few years, some modifications are needed in the management of the industry in order to fix a number of new issues

Later in the session, Nikou Sokhan, head of the print house owners’ union in Tehran, delivered a speech in which he posited that the Ministry of Industries does not regard the print as an industry while the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has its own rules regarding print related issues.

He went on to say that the cultural department of the Culture Ministry has announced its readiness to lay the responsibilities of the field to the Ministry of Industries in case the latter agrees to recognize print as an independent industry. As he said, no matter which ministry assumes print affairs, it should be able to satisfy its requirements so far as member of the union would like to have their field viewed as a specialized field.

Head of the Union of Print Industry Exporters, Abedini, also delivered a speech in which he asserted that the industry does not need any governmental support. “Where there is a state support for the industry, activists always idle around waiting for help coming from the government which is not right.”

He said that the industry should be governed by unions like what is being practiced in many other countries.

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