Press releases

MINSK, 23 August (BelTA) – Belarusian book publishers have established mutually beneficial contacts with counterparts and printing specialists at the Beijing International Book Fair which is underway in the Chinese capital through to 27 August, BelTA informs.

The Belarusian delegation held a number of fruitful meetings on the second day of the forum.

Beijing Foreign Studies University played host to a forum of book publishers from Central and Eastern Europe who created the "16+1" Association, i.e. sixteen European countries and China. Its major mission is to capture the achievements of human civilization, connect the cultures of the peoples. Representatives of Belarus and Russia participated in the event as observers, with a view to becoming its full members in the future.

Following the meeting in the university’s publishing house FLTRP, Director of the publishing house Mastatskaya Litaratura Ales Badak signed an agreement on the publication of a series of books “Conceptual Matters of Chinese Culture". Chinese counterparts, in turn, showed interest in the possible publication of Belarusian folk tales in Chinese.

Director of the publishing house Narodnaya Asveta Viktoria Kalistratova was offered by partners from China to examine controlled copies of teaching aids in Chinese for pre-school children and students of higher educational institutions with the possibility of transferring copyrights free of charge and publishing these materials in Belarus. Chinese counterparts asked for the preparation and publication of textbooks on the Belarusian language for students of Beijing University. These issues will be addressed in cooperation with the Belarusian Education Ministry.

The parties also discussed the production of the Belarusian-Chinese and Chinese-Belarusian dictionaries and also Chinese phrase books in cooperation with the Belarusian Encyclopedia publishing house. Director of the Belarusian Encyclopedia publishing house Vladimir Andriyevich and Peng Donglin, General Manager of the Belt and Road Language Service Center, agreed on the plans to develop and publish books on the history of Belarus, culture, traditions, and customs of the peoples living in Belarus.

Belarus’ Deputy Information Minister Igor Buzovsky and Director General of Belkniga bookselling network Alexander Vashkevich met with top managers of HUAWEI to discuss the company's technological capabilities of Belkniga, taking into account the company's SEO potential.

Photo by the Ministry of Information