The 11th Beijing International Book Fair, featuring more than 900 foreign and domestic exhibitors, will be held in Beijing Exhibition Hall on Sept. 2 to 6, an official said here Wednesday.

Before the event, an international publications forum will be organized from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1, and senior executives of world famous publication groups, periodicals and distribution groups will attend, said Yu Yongzhan, the deputy minister of General Administration of Press and Publication.

They include Marjorie Scardino, CEO of Pearson Group, Gerald de Roquemaurel, chairman of Hachette Filipacchi Medias, and Peter Field, incumbent Asian chairman of Penguin Publishing Group, Yu said at a press conference.

A session of the International Book Fair Federation will be held during the book fair.

"This is the first time the federation convenes its annual meeting in China, which will promote the exchange and cooperation between Beijing International Book Fair and other world-famous international book fairs," said Yu.

China's publishing industry has developed rapidly in recent years. The national gross sales of publications in 2003 were 15.75billion volumes valued at 107.02 billion yuan (US$12.94 billion).

Last year China had exported 7.66 million books, newspapers andperiodicals and imported 18.77. China also bought 12,516 copyrights from overseas and exported 811.
 
(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2004)