Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage and Frankfurt Book Fair establish 'Kitab' company

This is in the framework of the Adach strategy to promote book industry and publishing in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. This initiative started at the last session of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair last April 2007.

The agreement was signed by H.E. Mohammad Khalaf Al Mazrouei and Mr. Yurgen Buz, Director of Frankfurt International Book Fair, in the presence of Juma'a Al Qubaisi, Director of the National Library at Adach. The main office of the company is to be in Abu Dhabi, however, the company has the right to have offices and branches in and out the UAE. The company will be run by Board of Directors comprises of three members, a Director General and two members.

Adach will appoint two members and the German party the third. The company has also a stakeholder comprises all partners and is assembled by an order of the Director General once a year.

Following the signing of the agreement Al Mazrouei and Mr. Buz discussed the current cooperation between Abu Dhabi International Book Fair and Frankfurt International Book Fair. They reviewed means of enhancing this collaboration to promote Abu Dhabi Book Fair. Al Mazrouei assured that the coming session of the Fair, which will be held on 11th through 16th March 2008, will witness a quality leap on participation of publishers and countries, seminars, cultural and artistic activities.

H.E. Juma'a Al Qubaisi, Director of the National Library at Adach, said that the main goal of Adach in establishing "Kitab" company is to promote its book fair. The Authority will grant the new company an exclusive license to operate and implement a strategy for the book fair. The Kitab's duties include inter-alia:
- Lead the effort to develop a strategy for the Book fair.
- Develop trusted relationship with the stakeholders especially the international publishers.
- Develop and implement initiatives to promote the Book fair.
- Recruit and train a strong team of UAE nationals, based on a program to be agreed with Adach.

Al Qubaisi added book industry in the Arab World faces difficulties in providing the needs of 300 million Arab readers. However, the first step has been taken as Abu Dhabi succeeds to become a cultural hub in the region.

Mr. Buz expressed his happiness at the expected launch of Kitab. He praised the cultural initiatives taken by Adach in the local, regional and international levels. He thinks that Abu Dhabi will soon be an important centre for book industry due to seriousness, diligence and professionalism of people in charge of culture in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Adach has launched Kalima project to translate foreign books into Arabic. General Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, launched the project to fill the gap in Arabic library. The non-profit initiative was launched to finance the translation and publishing of classics and modern works of high quality from other languages into Arabic.

The Executive Committee of Publishers Association has chosen Abu Dhabi as the location for its 7th International Copyright Conference in 2010, which is held every four years since 1986 and attracted several hundred publishers, policy and copyright experts from around the world. The Committee of IPA examined the applications of candidates applying to be the host of the event. In the end Abu Dhabi was chosen.

The last session of Abu Dhabi International Book Fair was a great success, where publishers from 17 Arab countries and 29 from the rest of the world participated in the Fair. 400,000 people visited the fair, which was covered widely in local and international media.