Iran’s booth was opened in Beijing Book Fair in a ceremony attended by a number of Iranian and Chinese officials including the head of Iran’s Islamic culture and communications organization, Abouzar Ebrahimi Torkaman, General Manager of Iran’s Cultural Exhibition Institute, Amir Massoud Shahramnia, and Iran’s cultural attaché in Beijing.
In an address to the opening ceremony, Shahramnia welcomed the guests saying the presence of Iran in Beijing Book Fair as the special guest is a good opportunity for Iran and China to expand their cultural ties.
“Iran’s booth consists of about 100 Iranians from different literary fields including representatives of 14 top publishers and 13 literary agencies. Meanwhile, nine top Iranian writers, 10 artists from different sectors of Iran’s publication industry and 4 artist groups would play a role in running the booth during the fair,” he said, according to a Farsi report by Mehr.
He went on saying that during the book fair, Iran’s booth will hold more than 40 events providing Iranian writers and publishers with an opportunity to get in direct touch with their Chinese counterparts. “We also hope the events would pave the way for more cultural ties between the two sides,” he added.
For his part, Ebrahimi Torkaman took the podium and welcomed the participants in the opening ceremony, saying Iran has joined the book fair to establish emotional connection with the Chinese side.
Head of Iran’s Islamic culture and communications organization also said Iranians come from a rich culture and are interested in cultural ties.
“You would feel the interest during the book fair as in each book published by Iranian publishers, violence and war has been condemned because we are a nation who has nothing to do with war-mongering,” he added.
Elsewhere in his statements, the Iranian official referred to the literary icons of Iran and said a nation with great poets like Khaqani, Hafez, Saadi Shirazi, and Omar Khayyam, is a peace-seeking nation.
“During the book fair, we would try to display our rich culture,” he said.
Meanwhile, the head of State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China warmly welcomed Iran’s participation in the fair and expressed the hope that the presence would serve as a prelude to further expansion of cultural ties between the two sides.
He also praised Iran and China as two civilized countries which have preserved their cultural ties in history through the Silk Road.
“Today, we see that our bilateral cultural ties have expanded and the presence of Iran as our special guest in the fair provides us with a good platform to expand the ties further.”
He went on saying that China welcomes the translation and publication of Chinese literary books in Iran.
The ceremony came to an end with the live concert of an Iranian music band called Liyan which was warmly welcomed by the participants.
The 25th edition of Beijing Book Fair kicked off on August 23 and will be open to visitors until August 27.
