Some 42 countries take part in Cairo's international fair for children's books

Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said on Wednesday that some 42 Arab and foreign states will take part in the International Cairo Fair for Children's books in its 16th session, which will open on November 24.

The Egyptian minister added the fair, which was established on an area of 25,000 square meters, includes special pavilions for CD-roms, computer systems, and an Internet cafe.

The fair includes 617 publishers, among which are 260 Egyptian, 114 Arab and 243 foreign publisher.

The chairman of the fair's organizing committee, Sameer Sarhan, said the pavilions include 1.73 million book titles. These include 800,000 Egyptian titles and 530,000 book titles from the Middle East.

He added that the Child Encyclopaedia which was recently issued by the commission in collaboration with the American "World Book," which is the first work of its kind in Arabic, will be exhibited in the current child book fair.

He added that on the sidelines of the fair, seminars will be organized in collaboration with the Arab Council for Childhood and Development, the National Council for Maternity and other sides concerned.