His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi Member of the Supreme Council and ruler of Sharjah, today (Monday) attended the inauguration of the third Arab Publishers’ Association Conference held at Al Jawaher Reception and Convention Center in Sharjah for the first time.Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Founder and Patron of the Emirates Publishers Association, gave a keynote address during the opening ceremony of the conference, which is being held under the slogan, “Publishing industry: Prospects and the challenges of the digital age”.The opening ceremony also featured Mohammed Baydoun, Secretary General of the Arab Publishers' Association (APA), Richard Charkin, President of the International Publishers Association (IPA), Engineer Ibrahim El Moallem, Chairman of Al Shorouk Group, and Lebanese novelist and story writer Elias Khoury. It was attended by over 300 experts and specialists in publishing, writing, intellectual property, libraries, and publishing law.
In her opening speech, Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi welcomed the guests to Sharjah, saying that the Emirate, under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al-Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, has always adopted an approach that focuses on culture, reading, knowledge, and human development, hand in hand with economic development. This focus is inspired by a guiding principle which states that productive societies are built on human development as much as they are built on economic development, she said.Sheikha Bodour added, “The convening of this conference in the Emirate of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, reflects the vital role played by our government at the regional and global level, and its great efforts in supporting knowledge, science, and culture in general, and the publishing industry in particular. The UAE has been ranked first in West Asia and North Africa and 36 globally among 143 countries in the Global Innovation Index 2014 issued by Cornell University in New York, in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization. This advanced position reflects the eagerness of our government to apply best practices in the fight against piracy and for the protection of intellectual property rights. This stems from the important task of building a creative environment and supporting a knowledge-based economy. This approach is one of the most important priorities of our government in 2015, which was announced as a year of innovation in the UAE.”
On the challenges of intellectual property Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi said, “The issue of intellectual property is central to the publishing industry. It is one of the main factors that determine success in building a supportive environment for creativity and publishing. Studies have shown that countries which impose strict laws and adopt effective strategies to protect intellectual property, such as Singapore and South Korea, witness higher economic and industrial prosperity, and a more effective cultural and creative life than other countries. This contributes to enriching two main components: Culture and Economy.”Sheikha Bodour called on all stakeholders to open a serious and meaningful discussion about redefining the principle of freedom of publication, noting that international standards need to reflect the cultural diversity of all countries involved. She also invited conference members to discuss this essential matter with sufficient tolerance and flexibility, balancing the sanctity of freedom of publishing with the required respect for each nation's culture and unique nature.
Sheikha Bodour concluded by saying, “If books are truly a mirror of society, then publishing is the engine of thought. Revitalizing this sector, supporting the various elements that guarantee its prosperity and sustainability, will mean that we will be able to keep up with the daily changes, and take advantage of the opportunities behind them.”Mohammed Ali Baydoun, Secretary General of the APA said, “Culture is an essential skill for societies to develop that is why we are gathered here today to encourage this development. Publishing is the first tool needed for communication by intellectuals, innovators, researchers and readers. We need culture because it represents our history, geography and civilization, present and future. We need to take into consideration that books and culture generally, are important pillars needed to build a diverse and educated society for our future generations.”
On the challenges facing the publishing industry Mohammed Baydoun said, “Hard copies of books and magazines were once the only tool for publishing, however today in the technological age, advancements with digital devices, smart phones, the internet and especially social media networks, there are many ways to get information and news. We, in the publishing industry, have to work towards dealing with this new trend, embracing this publishing tool, and at the same time find suitable solutions to the e-publishing phenomena. However, in my opinion people will still want books made of paper, they love to feel the page in their hands and experience the joy of opening a new book.”Mohammed Baydoun thanked his Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, who dedicated his life to enriching the cultural and educated movement. He said, “We appreciate His Highness' patronage of the third Arab Publishers Conference and his continuous support of the different Arab book stands in international forums in order to show the strong presence of the Arab book industry to the outside world.”
“Richard Charkin, President of the International Publishers Association, said, “I am honoured and delighted to be attending the Arab Publishers Association Conference for the third time and it is particularly important for me now, as president of the IPA. Significantly this year at the Frankfurt Book Fair we welcomed new Arab members to the IPA, as full members.“Publishers are facing interesting times in coping with digital disruptions and this region has learned to cope with disruptions which give it flexibility and strength to deal with digital disruptions. But now more than ever publishers need to stand together to ensure the value of their author’s labours are not undermined intentionally or unintentionally to ensure their authors have access to a world of opportunities. Sharjah is particularly important to the publishing industry with the book fair drawing huge numbers. Book fairs are vital to understanding each other’s issues and to obtain support from each other. Our business is based on commerce which is its strength. Commerce is based on interaction and trust which book fairs provide.”
In his keynote speech at the conference, Lebanese novelist, critic and playwright Elias Khoury told his story with reading and writing, saying, “My relationship with literature has been puzzling since the first book that I read, at the age of nine. I came across a collection of historical novels written by Jurji Zaydan at our home. This was my first guide to a world where imagination blends with history, the magic of narrative with the pleasure of literature. I read "Girl of Ghassan" and was seized by a state that has stayed with me throughout my life, but to which I have never dared confess. And as my reading became more varied, this state acquired alarming proportions, and it remains with me to this day. I read all Zaydan’s novels and combined these with my early obsession with pre-Islamic poetry."Khoury added, “The true turning point in my relationship with reading occurred with two novels, the first being Albert Camus’ “L’Etranger” and the second is “Men in the Sun” by Ghassan Kanafani. Camus’ novel bewitched me with its direct and unadorned style and the multiple levels of the text, while Kanafani’s novel lit within me the fires of grief and anger. Despite the lack of any common factor linking these two slim novels, together they led me to an awareness of the significance of the feelings that I had first experienced during my early reading of Zaydan.”
Khoury added, “When I first dared to convert my relationship with life into words, I did not feel that I was entering a world that I did not know. I felt, rather, that the reader inside me, who pretended to himself that he had written all the novels that he had read, could, through writing, go on playing at being a reader. Thus I wrote as a reader, and I discovered that a person is a book that endlessly recreates itself. The words now became mirrors and the writer inside me became the reader, leaning on the writings of others to discover his own. Words are mirrors, and without mirrors we do not only lose the image, we lose the original too.”During the ceremony His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah honoured publisher Engineer Ibrahim El Moallem for his role in the publishing industry in the Arab World. El Moallem's achievements were shown in a short documentary about his work and the important milestones of his career were highlighted, such as the positions he occupied in some of the most prominent institutions in the publishing world.
El Moallem was appointed Chairman of the committee of children's books in the International Publishers Association and he was also board member of the International Association of Publishers, member of the Freedom to Publish Committee, member of the Intellectual Property Protection Committee, one of the founders of the Arab Publishers' Association, and a founder and chairman of the Egyptian Publishers' Association.Under El Moallem's leadership, Al Shorouk Group earned a number of international, regional and local awards, including the UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence in 2003, Bologna Children's Book Festival Prize in 2000 and 2002, and Etisalat children’s book award in 2010.The Arab Publishers Conference, organized by the Arab Publishers Association in collaboration with the Emirates Publishers’ Association, is scheduled to conclude tomorrow (Tuesday). The program includes expert keynotes and discussions on topics such as libraries, education, intellectual property, property rights, digital piracy, electronic distribution, freedom of publication, translation and the Arabic language, the evolution of the publishing industry, and content development.The first Arab Publishers Conference was held in Riyadh in October of 2009, under the slogan "The future of the publishing industry in the Arab world". The second conference was held in Alexandria in Egypt in March 2013, under the theme "Empowering knowledge and the challenges of the Arab publishing industry."