Interview: Massive turnout at Egypt's largest book fair despite economic crisis: organizer

A massive turnout has been seen during the first week of the recently-inaugurated 48th round of annual Cairo International Book Fair (CIBF) regardless of Egypt's difficult economic conditions, the fair's chief organizer said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"As targeted, there is about 20 percent increase in visitors turnout in the first five days of the fair compared to last year, exceeding one million visitors," said Haitham al-Hajj Ali, head of the General Egyptian Book Organization (GEBO), the CIBF official organizer.

As the largest and oldest in the Middle East region and the second largest worldwide after Germany's Frankfurt Book Fair, the CIBF is held from Jan. 26 to Feb. 10 this year under the slogan of "Youth and Future Culture," with 35 participant countries, 16 from the Arab world, six from Africa and 13 from other parts of the world.

Egypt has been suffering an economic recession over the past six years due to political turmoil and relevant security challenges, which led the country to adopt a strict economic reform program including austerity measures as well as subsidy cuts and local currency floatation, which all led to soaring prices and increasing inflation.

Out of total 670 publishing houses, only 451 Egyptian publishers joined the CIBF this year compared to 550 last year, due to the hike of paper and ink prices that reportedly rose book prices by about 150 percent.

"Until now, I do not see the impact of the economic situation on the book fair. As an indicator, the sales of GEBO books are almost double those of last year," Ali told Xinhua, arguing that only specific kinds of books whose publishers exaggerate their prices have been affected.

The fair's organizer revealed that his organization does not get subsidy from the government to be in a competitive opposition with private publishers, yet the GEBO is committed to produce high quality, well-printed books with a very little profit margin.

"We have books whose quality is much better than those of private publishers yet with 40-percent lower prices than theirs," Ali told Xinhua.

He added that the full floatation of the Egyptian pound may affect foreign and Arab publishing houses, but opening future channels for cooperation between Egypt's culture ministry and those publishers will reduce the impact of price gaps in the coming years.

Frequented by about two million visitors every year, the CIBF includes hundreds of cultural activities, such as symposiums, workshops and artistic and creative performances in various fields, with remarkable youth participation and a new section for children this year.

"What distinguishes the CIBF is its carnival-like aspect. It is not merely a book fair for trading books, but it is the largest cultural carnival in the Middle East and the Arab world with the variety of its activities and means of attraction," the GEBO chief said.

Participant states including Morocco, China, Russia, Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands and others featured interesting shows and various cultural activities during the fair, attracting numerous audience of all ages.

Although Morocco has been chosen as the guest of honor, China is showing an unprecedented presence at this CIBF round with an extensive booth, thousands of books, dozens of activities and several writers, poets and artists.

Ali hailed China's participation in this year's book fair as "distinguished and unique," noting his organization highly values the cultural and intellectual activities presented by China's 'Wisdom House' book corner at the fair.

"The variety and high level of Chinese ballet performances, circus shows, music, fine arts and workshops are really so creative, intriguing and attractive to CIBF visitors," the fair's top organizer told Xinhua. Endit