Sharjah: Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) concluded its participation in the 45th edition of the New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF), a major publishing event in the cultural calendar of the world organised by the National Book Trust of India.
Over the nine-day event, SBA held several business-to-business meetings and sessions with experts and professionals in the book industry. The authority’s main focus was to forge ties with publishers from India and the other 40 countries that participated at the fair.
Salim Omar Salim, director of Sales and Marketing at SBA, said, “Our participation at NDWBF 2017 reflects our strategy in realising the vision and directives of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, to strengthen our exchange of knowledge with countries and cultures around the world. It also gave us the opportunity to highlight Sharjah’s contribution to the publishing and knowledge industries regionally and globally, at India’s biggest annual publishing event.”
Reiterating that the flourishing of global cultures heavily depends on ongoing dialogue, the sharing of knowledge and strong channels of communication, he reaffirmed that SBA’s participation at NDWBF 2017 was in line with the emirate’s vision and SBA’s ongoing efforts to reinforce Sharjah’s role in leading the regional books and knowledge industry to new heights.
The NDWBF offered SBA a perfect platform to enhance ways of cooperation between the Indian and Arab publishers, where several meetings with publishing and translation agencies, writers and intellectuals actively involved in the global book market were carried out.
At the end of the forum, Baldeo Bhai Sharma, director of the fair, praised Sharjah’s achievements and its key role in nurturing and preparing a highly educated generation empowered with knowledge and science.
He also commended the immense efforts of Dr Shaikh Sultan to boost culture and thought, not just locally but in the entire Arab region. Sharma referred to Sharjah Publishing City as an unprecedented opportunity for publishers around the world to promote knowledge and cultural links across continents.
