Prime Minister Najib Mikati sponsored the opening ceremony of the 63rd Beirut Arab International Book Fair, at the “Sea Side Arena” exhibition hall on the Beirut waterfront yesterday followingnoon, at the invitation of the Arab Cultural Club and the participation of a large number of publishing houses.
The ceremony was attended by: President Fouad Siniora, MP Muhammad Al-Hajjar, representing Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and a crowd of diplomatic, religious, academic, educational and union figures, and a number of owners of Lebanese, Arab and foreign publishing houses. After the national anthem and standing a minute of silence for the victims of the harbor explosion, the Secretary of the Arab Cultural Club, Nermin Al-Khansa, delivered a speech in which she indicated that the club returned with the Beirut Arab International Book Fair to crown Beirut once more, the capital of culture, beauty and creativity, the capital of opinion, free thought and openness, the capital of Crafts, publishing, books and writers.
Baasiri
Then, the club’s president, Salwa Siniora, spoke to Asiri and said: “Here is the Beirut Arab International Book Fair that returns to us following an absence. Rather, we are the ones who return to it, to release the feelings of lack and to reveal the centrality of its role and position in promoting Beirut’s cultural position. And for the Arab Cultural Club to confirm that returning in this particular circumstance is a cultural and cognitive duty that is inseparable from the message that the club has committed itself to since the date of its founding in 1944, so that its message will be part of the message of Lebanon’s independence in 1943, in an almost interconnection between the two dates.
She said: “The founding generation of the Arab Cultural Club realized that Lebanon’s independence is preserved with its intellectual sovereignty, its knowledge awareness, and its cultural diversity within the framework of its Arab environment. No matter how complicated matters are, crises intertwine, and challenges continue, that the Arab Cultural Club fails to adhere to the formula of Lebanon. Civilization and its requirements, and fulfilling its entrusted role in terms of embracing thought and its people. Changing landmarks and identity, Beirut, which embraces all creativity.”
President Mikati
In his speech, President Mikati said: “Our meeting today in this particular place carries more than one message and meaning. Near this place was the last Beirut earthquake, which was added to the series of modern and old earthquakes that destroyed our city, Beirut, but it was unable to kill the soul in it. Therefore, Beirut And if it fell for a while, it would come back and rise once more stronger, more determined and determined, by the will of all the Lebanese, no matter how hard the days were, and what we met today here, in this particular place that came back to rise from its depression, is nothing but a message of hope that Beirut will regain its health and its role, and that all of Lebanon will rise. God willing.”
He said: “On this particular occasion, which is unlike any other, we meet, and in our collective memory we are longing for the book, which has no alternative, no matter how many modern means of communication, and no matter how developed the methods of publishing and the speed of spread. The book has a special place in our cultural and intellectual backgrounds. To him we resort when worries multiply, and with him we guide our steps, it is the permanent tributary to everything new, and it is the real and serious way to derive solutions.. From it we draw knowledge, and with it we sail in the time of the impossible.”
He added: “This exhibition, which its organizers insisted on holding despite the adverse conditions, is an oasis for all of us. With him we stay, and with him we rest. It is the natural place of restless movement. It is the sanctuary for everyone who thirsts for more knowledge. It is the only key to all doors, if not the most convenient solution to any difficult thing.”
Mikati continued: “We cannot, while we are at the opening of the Beirut Arab Book Fair, and in light of all these crises that surround us, lose sight of the importance of the role of culture in our civilized battle. It is the battle of truth once morest falsehood. The battle to prove oneself in the midst of attempts to marginalize the Lebanese identity, which is organically and wisely linked to the Arab identity, to which we belong as an oriental civilization.
He said: “Our battle is with everyone who is stalking us with evil, not only with politics, stance and field confrontations, but also with words, science and thought, education and books. Our battle is once morest ignorance and the unknown. Rather, it is once morest all those who do not want progress, stability and prosperity for our country and Arab countries.. Yes, it is not new for Beirut to embrace the Arab book, as it was and still is the capital of Arab culture, and it was the starting point of the intellectual revolutions in the Arab world. It was sung by the great Arab poets, and the educated people would come to it on the day when the pens were dry and depleted.”
He concluded by saying: “Challenges do not frighten us, but rather increase our determination to confront and stand in the face of difficulties to solve them. This is the history of the Lebanese, all the Lebanese. This is their present, and this is how their future will be.”
In conclusion, President Mikati and the audience toured the exhibition’s sections, where he was briefed on the contents of the various books.
It is noteworthy that the exhibition continues until March 13 and receives visitors from ten in the morning until five in the followingnoon.
