The biannual Mint and Print International Conference (MAP 2014) was held in Beirut, Lebanon from May 25 to 28, 2014. The second edition of the event was organized by the central bank of Lebanon.
The event was held in Beirut’s Four Season Hotel. 50 attendees from around 35 invited Central Banks representing MENA countries, and 25 expected sponsors and speakers representing paper mills, mints and printing companies participated at the event.
The event is set to be repeated periodically once every two years. A number of important topics including banknotes substrates, systematic approach to expressive banknote, durable new micro optics security feature and other topics related to banknote printing and design were discussed during the conference.
Representatives from top European security printing companies such as Giesecke & Devrient and De la Rue talked about different aspects of producing faultless banknotes.
Addressing the attendees Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor Raid Salameh talked about Lebanon’s new banknotes with modern security features and how the new money helped the Lebanese pound regain value.
“The trust in Lebanese currency is not only because of the strength in financial accounts but is also due to the banknote itself,” he said.
He added the Central Bank had adopted the most up-to-date security features in its 2011 banknote issue.
Salameh said the Central Bank is keen on increasing the usage of the local currency, adding that dollarization has decreased from over 80 percent to less than 40 percent since the early 1990s.
