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NPC reserved a 200 square meter booth in the best
exhibition hall, alongside giant companies such as Solvay, Basell,
Atofina, Viba and other international heavyweights. |
The Italian Plast Exhibition, which is
held once every three years in Milan’s exhibition center, is one of the
world’s biggest and most distinguished exhibitions. The exhibition showcases
the innovation of countries in the field of plastic products and raw
materials. Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC) took part in this
year's exhibition –held from 6 - 10 April 2003– as well as those held in 1997
and 2000.
To ensure its wide range of
petrochemical products were displayed in the best possible light, NPC reserved
a 200 square meter booth in the best exhibition hall, alongside giant
companies such as Solvay, Basell, Atofina, Viba and other international
heavyweights. Iran’s booth, which had a lot of time dedicated to its design
and construction, took its inspiration from Iran’s traditional architecture
and was adorned with historical pieces from Perspolis and a life-size replica
of the "Gate of Nations" made from polymeric products.
Iran’s booth proved to be very
attractive and fascinating to the numerous exhibition attendees who had
flocked to the exhibition from all over the world, to such an extent that
Iran’s booth had an approximate daily influx of 1000 to 2000 visitors, many of
which franticly snapped shots of the booth while enjoying the Iranian
confectionary provided. The booth was so alluring that Italy’s international
television and its satellite networks (RAI 1, 2, 3) came to Iran’s booth on
the third day of the exhibition and filmed an hour-long report.
During the report, the eight downstream
petrochemical companies –who were in NPC’s booth– presented and introduced
their products. 40 other plastic-producing companies also displayed their
wares in the attractively-designed showcase of NPC’s booth. This report was a
huge opportunity for introducing Iran’s products and capabilities to
international markets.
The exhibition was followed by a large
news conference for the further familiarization with Iran’s petrochemical
industry with the participation of Mohammad Ehtiyati, Managing Director of
Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company (IPCC), as well as 21 reporters from
Italian and international newsmagazines and publications, including England’s
Reuters, Italy’s Enza and Macplas. Reporters from Italy’s public press
(including le Republica, il Journale and il Journe) as
well as specialized economic and technical publications from Italy, England,
America, France and Germany attended the news conference.
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Iran’s
booth was adorned with historical pieces from Perspolis and a life-size
replica of the "Gate of Nations" made from polymeric products |
The news conference was opened with the
remarks of Claudio Chelata, Director of Escoma Plast, who was responsible for
holding the conference and followed by Ehtiyati’s announcement of the latest
statistics of Iran’s petrochemical industry. The floor was then opened to
questions from the reporters attending the news conference. Reporters asked
many questions on the situation of petrochemicals in Iran and how the projects
were being implemented and the products marketed. Reporters also enquired
about the grand scheme to invest $20 billion in Iran’s petrochemical industry
and the effects of introducing millions of tons of polymer products into the
European market over the next five years. Ehtiyati answered questions for
about three hours and the news conference enjoyed a favorable reflection in
the press the next day.
In response to a question from Enza’s
reporter about the effects of the sanctions imposed on Iran by the U.S.
Ehtiyati answered that the American’s have had this rhetoric from the
beginning of the Revolution and the Europeans have learned not to pay
attention to it. So they say whatever they want and we keep doing what we are
doing. We know that the Europeans don’t pay too much attention to these
American threats and that is why 65% of the petrochemical projects are handled
by the Europeans, and this trend is sure to continue. Ehtiyati later calmed
fears and assured Europeans that Iran does not intend to disrupt the world
polymer market or take part in unhealthy competition. He said that Iran’s
intention is having an active presence in the global markets as well as
cooperating with the world’s petrochemical heavyweights. He concluded by
saying that Iran is seeking cooperation not competition.
