العربية
فارسى
Türkçe
اُردُو
Français
Deutsch
Kiswahili
Español
The ceremony
The ceremony began with the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran followed by the word of the holy shrines of Imam Al-Hussayn and Al-Abbas (peace be upon both of them) delivered by the member of the preparatory committee of the festival, the associate at the department of intellectual and cultural affairs at the Al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine; Sayed 'Aqeel Abd Al-Hussayn Al-Yassiri, in which he expressed his thanks and gratitude to all the publishing houses particpating in this cultural event, considering it a good opportunity to gather them all on this holy land of Karbala, united around a single goal; disseminating the cultural, schience and literature, and the fair that was one of th efruits of the international cultural festival of martyrdom spring, was a lush garden gathering all kinds of sciences."
Adding: "We apologize for any mistake or default, and we promise you that the next editions of this fair will be better.. And reminding that this fair and activities were held thanks to the sacrifices and blood of our security forces and the volunteers of the popular mobilization, who were like an impregnable dam face to the gangs of ignorance, backwardness, murder and terror... So thanks to all who contributed and supported the success of this fair."
Followed by the word of the director of Karbala International Book Fair and the member of the preparatory committee of the festival; Sayed Muyassar Akram Al-Hakeem, stating: "The Karbala International Book Fair is developed considerably year after the other, and has become one of th emost important international book fairs for its effective contribution in sustaining the intellectual and cultural momentum."
Noting: "They were 211 local, Arab and international publishing houses that participated in this fair, from 13 countries, namely: Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Syria, Morocco, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Britain, Spain, Canada and Italy. As well as the host country Iraq. The fair was set up on an area of 3000 square meters, in which thousands of books and publications were presented, during a period of ten days amid a large turnout."
Then Mr. Salah Al-Telawi from Jordan, has delivered the word of the Arab publishers, in which he presented his thanks and gratitude to Karbala holy shrine in these blessed days, to give them the opportunity to participate in this cultural event, which we hope will continue in next edition with more success, to serve the march of thought, culture and literature... So, all the thanks to the committee supervising this exhibition, which has motivated us to participated now and later, and also for the great efforts to surmount all difficulties and obstacles."
Followed by the word of the Egyptian publishing houses delivered by Mr. Muhammad Al-Mahdi, who started it by congratulating the fair management on the success of this edition, which was held in the very exceptional circumstances of the area, and the security, political and economic fluctuations. As through the book and reading, we guide the minds and we bring them back to their sense, because it is the only way to make the nation rise again, and regardless of the life change, the book remains, and this need concerted eforts and large work, and the book fairs are but one of these efforts in this sense.
We ask the administration of the fair to put into consideration the pros and cons that accompanied this edition, in order to develop this fair, to be one of the major international book fairs."
The closing ceremony was concluded by the distribution of gifts and appreciation certificates to all the participating publishing houses from inside and outside Iraq.
