Doha, April 22 (QNA) - The world celebrates World Book and Copyright Day (WBCD) Thursday, April 23. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) chose this day as an expression of the world’s appreciation for books and authors, and recognition of their outstanding contributions to the renaissance, enlightenment, and social and cultural progress of humanity, in addition to encouraging reading, research, and criticism.

On this occasion, Director of the Publications and Translation Department at the Ministry of Culture Mohammed Hassan Al Kuwari said in a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA) that the State of Qatar and the world celebrate the World Book and Copyright Day in appreciation of the power of books as a bridge between cultures and peoples, and their role in renaissance and development.

He added that the celebration crowns the efforts of the Ministry of Culture during a whole year in issuing distinguished books by Qatari and Arab authors, as the ministry supports these authors by providing them with generous rewards, and publishing their works in various cultural events inside and outside the country, in addition to supporting Qatari publishers by adopting distinguished works in all kinds of knowledge.

He explained that this celebration of authors and publishing houses encourages the provision of diverse scientific, intellectual, cultural and intellectual material to all readers of different languages ​​and ages to achieve a desired goal of spreading culture and awareness and raising the taste of society, indicating that this material and moral support includes allocating pavilions for their production in book fairs, organizing launch parties for their publications and holding dialogues about their content.

Al Kuwari stressed the Ministry of Culture’s keenness to dedicate quality standards to publishing and support publishers to participate in foreign fairs, which has enhanced the achievement of several writers from Qatar in winning awards and honors in international festivals and competitions, pointing out that during the last two years, the Ministry of Culture was the guest of honor at the most prominent international book fairs, including fairs in Azerbaijan, Algeria, Riyadh, Delhi and Damascus, which contributed to conveying Qatar’s culture and heritage, and highlighted its artistic heritage and its giant steps in the field of culture in those countries.

Regarding the manifestations of Qatar's renaissance in the field of publishing, the Director of the Publications and Translation Department said publishing houses are of great importance to officials in the Ministry of Culture, as they are provided with all facilities, including discounts on annual fees and participation fees in the Doha International Book Fair (DIBF), adding that this interest extends to other aspects to enhance cooperation, as the Ministry of Culture takes on crucial responsibilities for publishing houses, by purchasing publishing rights from authors and designing and preparing the book, in addition to contributing to publish these works on its electronic platforms.

He added that they now have a vast electronic library that includes all the publications of Qatari and Arab authors, in addition to making issues of Doha Magazine available for free to everyone.

Regarding the Ministry of Culture's library, its importance, and its role in this context, Mohammed Hassan Al Kuwari said that the Ministry of Culture's library is a tributary of culture and forms an essential part of its institutional system, indicating that the ministry sponsors books of great intellectual value.

Therefore, the library contains titles in various fields of knowledge, embodying the ministry's production of books and publications over 30 years, in addition to issues of Doha Magazine and books issued by it for more than 50 years, all of which represent a rich intellectual resource that the Ministry of Culture provides to Qatari and Arab readers.

The Director of the Publications and Translation Department concluded his remarks to QNA by pointing out that the development that took place in Doha Magazine and the qualitative additions to the Doha platform came within the framework of achieving the goals of the Ministry of Culture and its keenness to keep pace with the times and benefit from modern social media and various media, in addition to enhancing the status of knowledge and spreading Qatari culture and its various sources and diverse trends through the ministry’s digital platforms, including Doha Magazine, which was developed to achieve that goal of expansion and dissemination, as it is no longer satisfied with the paper version, but has a distinguished website, and special programs using video, podcasts and modern media, which enables the reader, viewer and listener to access the latest cultural content as soon as it is produced and published, in the same way they follow political, economic, and sports news in a timely manner. (QNA)