CAIRO – Egypt’s Minister of Culture Nevine el Kelany said the 55th session of the Cairo International Book Fair (CIBF) achieved unrecorded success and record number of visitors that has never reached before.
During a Cabinet meeting under prime minister Mostafa Madbouli, the minister of culture said the great success of the CIBF’s 2024 edition attests to the fair’s regional and international pioneering role.
The CIBF 2024 edition was sponsored by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. The prime minister attended the exhibition’s opening activities, that were held under the slogan “We Create Knowledge… We Preserve Word.”
The number of visitors to the exhibition during this session reached nearly 5 million visitors from different age groups, Kelany said, adding that the exhibition witnessed more than 550 cultural events and 120 artistic events.
In the same context, the minister noted that nearly 1,200 publishers participated in the exhibition with 5,000 exhibitors from 70 countries from different continents of the world. She also indicated that the exhibition achieved record sales for private publishing houses, public institutions and sectors affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, exceeding half million copies.
Kelany added that the exhibition hosted nearly 200 Arab and foreign writer and intellectual, as they were hosted within the cultural program.
Dr. Salim Hassan was chosen as the character of the exhibition, as he is one of the pioneers of Egyptology, and the writer Yaqoub Al-Sharouni was chosen as the character of the exhibition for children’s literature, she said.
The Minister explained that the exhibition witnessed many important events as the “Palestine Day” event, in addition to the signing of a cooperation protocol on the sidelines of the fair with the Venezuelan minister of culture to support cultural exchange.
Kelany indicated that the closing activities of this session witnessed the announcement of the names of the winners of the exhibition’s prizes and also the handing over of the banner of the next session to Oman, that was chosen as the guest of honor for the exhibition in its 56th edition in 2025 and a video was shown listing the exhibition’s various activities.
