Address by HE Advisor & General Supervisor

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, peace and prayers be on the most honorable Messengers, our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions ..

Book fairs are considered the real thought of cultures identities and the civilizations outcome of peoples and the transfer of knowledge without a mediation. The book, as we all know, is a synonym of knowledge and its basis and the primary means to it. Words, pictures and books are basic items and important tools in the dialogue of civilizations and cultures needed for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Arabs with the other at the same time in order to reach a common charter of humanitarian issues in the world. Therefore, book fairs remain one of the most important intellectual and cultural events held throughout the world as a source of thoughts and cultures in first and foremost, a beacon of knowledge and an asylum for scholars. Book fairs highlights the cultures of peoples and their progress is measured by the standard of their renaissance, and the level of thoughts development. In addition, these fairs are great opportunities to the meeting of cultures and the blending of experiences.

The royal direction decreeing the necessity of the ministry of higher education participating in international book fairs is starting from the wise vision and the knowledge dimension of rational leadership to demonstrate what our dear country reached of progress and renaissance to other cultures. Also, through this participation we have been able to see the real advent of the world with a cultural significance and a civilization meaning at the same time. We managed to deal with this age of science with wise and reasonable interaction which benefits us to improve our future and our path to it. These international partnerships resulted in a cultural prestige which is another testimony of the world to the discretion of the Saudi people of knowledge and the book according to the cultural belief in the role played by the Kingdom to maintain the Islamic civilization, which emphasizes the importance and the need for of the Arab - Islamic cultural integration in all fields; the common joint between the Arab world are many and there is nothing better than culture to embrace these joints.

I seize this opportunity to pay tribute to the role adopted by the governmental and cultural authorities of Saudi Arabia in the efforts to support the authoring, publishing and translation which is of course an important and effective role stems from the Kingdom's keenness to participate in the industry of thought and culture and presenting what their authorities reached of progress and development and introducing this success in unified suit of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The electronic interactive services provided by the exhibits administration on the website of the Ministry of Higher Education (www.mohe.gov.sa) is just a significance and an implement of the e-government role to which we aspire to benefit all participants in the international fairs through communication with officials of the exhibits administration.

Advisor & General Supervisor of the General Department for International Cooperation
Dr. Salim bin Mohammed Al-Malik