Annual Damascus book exhibition opens today

Under the patronage of President Hafez al-Assad the 14th Damascus Book Exhibition will open today at 6:00 p.m. (Damascus Local time), at al-Assad Library.

Some 386 publication houses are taking part from 11 Arab states: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, UAE, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya and Syria. Another 15 publication houses from five foreign countries are also taking part: the USA, Iran, Britain, Russia and France.

Several regional and international organizations are also participating, namely ICARDA, the European Union commission, the Arab League Education, Scientific and Culture Organization (ALESCO) and the Syrian Red Crescent society.

A pavilion is dedicated to computer agencies to display their programs, and the exhibition contains 35,000 book titles.

On the sidelines of the exhibition, a main cultural activity will be on "Arab cultural security." Several lectures will be read on this topic by several Arab writers and intellectuals: Dr. Shazli Qllibi from Tunisia, Dr. Jalal Amin from Egypt, Dr. Ali Abu Malil from Morocco, al-Bashir Bin Salamah from Tunisia, Dr. Adnan al-Sayed Hussein from Lebanon, Jamil Mattar from Egypt and Ahmad Barqawi and Munir al-Hamash from Syria.