XXIIIrd International Security Printers’ Conference and XIIth Suppliers’ Exhibition

weigh location all the necessary prerequisites for selecting a conference. A sufficiently large conference and exhibition centre is of course indispensable, as is the reasonable proximity of an international airport. Good hotels are also important and the city selected should be interesting, from a cultural, historical and perhaps even culinary point of view, but it should not swamp the participants as one of Europe’s megalopolises would. The Planning Committee believes that in Stockholm it has found such a city. It has a charming old town – Gamla Stan – a wealth of museums, galleries, a very good opera and the renowned city hall – the venue of the Nobel Prize dinners. It also has a long historical connection to banknote, security printing and paper making. Of course, the location is important, but more important still is the content of the conference. The Planning Committee has put together a programme that reflects the current, and we hope, some of the future concerns of the security printing community, both in the banknote and the ID arenas. Expert speakers will discuss what the industry needs to do to incorporate the latest technical advances and to stay ahead of the forger and counterfeiter. And the exhibitors will show how the needs of the industry have been translated into reality. You can be assured of a full, interesting and enriching programme, which will meet the highest expectations of all who will attend the XXIIIrd International Security Printers’ Conference and the XIIth Suppliers’ Exhibition. I look forward to welcoming you in Stockholm,

Efthimios Matsoukis

Chairman of the INTERGRAF Security Printers’ Section