The 63rd International Belgrade Book Fair opened on Sunday under the slogan "The Joy of Reading", providing a variety for thousands of booklovers to pick from and a platform for the exchange among writers of different countries.

The annual fair, which this year takes place from Oct.21 to 28 with 1,000 exhibitors from around 20 countries, is a place where some of the most popular domestic writers meet their colleagues from other countries and publishers who promote their new publications, books and authors, while hundreds of thousands of visitors roam in the halls to buy books at discount rates.

This year's special guest country is Morocco whose stand of some 100 square meters decorated in their traditional style presents more than 1,000 books of prominent national publishers.

The fair was opened by speeches of Moroccan and Serbian authors, Abdellah Boussouf and Matija Beckovic, in front of culture ministers of the two countries, Mohamed Laaraj and Vladan Vukosavljevic, and hundreds of writers, publishers and booklovers.

Boussouf, also a Moroccan historian, said that the fair will be a chance for the delegation of his country to get to know aspects of Serbian heritage, which will also represent "a contribution towards the development of cooperation between writers and culture stakeholders in both countries and bringing the two peoples closer".

Beckovic pointed out that the book fair is an important date in the calendar of Serbian people and its culture, and that its international character confirms that "culture cannot exist in isolation and without contact with other cultures, and although, of course, there are older, more famous and richer book fairs in the world, neither of them can make one feel so welcome and where one can meet more people that like to read".

Among the participating publishers are those from China, Russia, the United States, Britain, Japan and other countries.

Visitors to the Chinese stand took interest in the offer of thematic books, children's books, traditional culture, Chinese literature, humanity and social sciences and language learning from three publishers including China Architecture and Building Press, The Commercial Press Ltd., and Heilongjiang Publishing & Media Co. Ltd., under the organization of China National Publications Import & Export (Group) Corporation.

Representatives of the Chinese publishing companies also donated books to the Confucius institute in Belgrade.

Organizers told Xinhua that these books show the achievements of China since its reforms and opening up in the areas of politics, economy, culture and society and "are an important window for Serbian readers to get to know Chinese culture and the development of modern China".

Programs of the fair also include discussions about books, literature theory and dictionaries. 

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