RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan inaugurated the Riyadh International Book Fair 2021 on Thursday, welcoming writers, publishers and cultural figures and leaders from around the world. This years edition sees the participation of Iraq as the guest of honor, and a number of Iraqi intellectuals and artists arrived on Thursday ahead of their presentations during the fair. The opening ceremony of the fair, which is being held under the patronage of King Salman in the capital, was attended by the Egyptian Minister of Culture Ines Abdel-Dayem, and Iraq’s Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Hassan Nazim. Prince Badr bin Abdullah separately met with his Egyptian and Iraqi counterparts on the sidelines of the ceremony. Prince Badr bin Abdullah said the Kingdom was keen to enhance cooperation Iraq and Egypt, in light of the cultural ties that bind them throughout history, stressing the importance of joint work to enhance the role of literature as an important cultural repository. More than a thousand local, regional and international publishing house representing 28 countries will be in attendance at this year’s fair which gets under way from Friday until Oct. 10. A publishers’ conference organized by the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture — and the first of its kind to be in the Kingdom — will take place on Oct. 4 and 5. The conference will discuss conditions of the publication industry in the Arab world and ongoing efforts to develop the industry to reach competitive levels internationally across 12 panel discussions with the participation of 42 speakers from Saudi Arabia and around the world. The new edition of the fair will be held under the theme “New Destination, New Chapter.”