300,000 book lovers flock into Cairo fair

 Thousands of Egyptians, Arabs and foreigners thronged into the Cairo International Book Fair, where thousands of publications are on display.

The event is the 54th fair, which begun on Jan. 26 and is slated to end on Feb. 6.

In the first three days following the opening, 500,000 people visited the book fair, Egypt Independent reported.

Ahmed Bahey-Eddin, head of the Egyptian General Book Authority, said that the number of visitors to the exhibition on Saturday was about 300,000.

The interest has been reflected in the number of publishers in the fair, estimated at 1,047 publishing houses from 53 countries.

Among the participating countries in the book fair is Jordan as a guest of honor, providing lectures, seminars, musical performances, poetry evenings and storytelling sessions as well as folkloric and traditional activities and short-film showing the kingdom’s tourist attractions.

The other participants include Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Marat Gatin, director of the Russian Cultural Centers in Egypt, told ahramonline he was highly pleased with the Russian participation.

Around 707 Egyptian publishing houses are taking part in the fair, while 340 are from foreign countries, such as Hungary, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, India, Ghana, Kuwait, Morocco and the UAE.