Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

The 6th International Book Fair solemnly opened at Baku Sports Palace on September 27.

About 81 local and 40 foreign publishing houses, bookstores and other organizations from 22 countries are taking part in the fair, Trend reported.

The opening ceremony was attended by Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Chairman and Executive Secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party Ali Ahmadov, the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan Elmira Suleymanova, TURKSOY Secretary General Dusen Kaseinov and others.

At the opening, the Minister of Culture Abulfas Garayev emphasized the importance of the Baku International Book Fair, stressing that books has always played a special role in the history of the Azerbaijani people.

The Minister noted that the 6th Baku International Book Fair is timed to the 650th anniversary of the great Azerbaijani poet Imadaddin Nasimi. In connection with the 650th anniversary of the great poet, President Ilham Aliyev declared 2019 the Year of Nasimi.

He stressed that publishing in the country is actively developing, Azerbaijan takes part in many international book exhibitions.

In his speech, Ali Ahmadov noted that Azerbaijan is indeed a country with great intellectual property.

"The development of human capital cannot be imagined without books. Holding a book fair is, above all, an excellent initiative to promote books in Azerbaijan. A book is knowledge, culture, and at the same time means the development of man and society. Society originates in its cultural, intellectual, and economic development from books and knowledge. In this sense, love of the book is connected with increasing the desire for knowledge and sciences in society and among people. Azerbaijan has long been a country where interest in science and knowledge was manifested. And books played an exceptional role in this, " Ahmadov said.

Deputy Prime Minister added that Azerbaijan has always had love and affection for books, which is very encouraging.

He believes that by reading, young people will gain rich knowledge, their intellectual and cultural level will increase and in the future they will become worthy citizens serving Azerbaijan.

"I believe that by strengthening youth’s love for books, society will always move forward. The Ministry of Culture is organizing good projects to promote books in Azerbaijan," he said.

The 6th Baku International Book Fair, organized by the Ministry of Culture, will run until September 29.

The main purpose of the event is to promote reading habits, to familiarize readers with the national and foreign publications, as well as to create cooperation opportunities between national and foreign publishing houses.

At the same time, a number of book presentations and book signing sessions are organized as part of the book fair. Entrance to the book fair is free.

It should be noted that the 5th Baku International Book Fair was held in 2017. Over 100 national and 40 foreign publishing houses took part in the fair. Numerous presentations and literary meetings were held as part of the event.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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