China's Deputy President of the State's Council Lu dong Yan opened here this evening the 20th Beijing International Book Exhibition in which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is taking part as guest of honor, the first Arab and Islamic country ever to have this honor. Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Anqari, Minister of Higher Education, Yahya Al-Zaid, the Saudi ambassador to China and a number of Chinese senior officials also attended the official opening ceremony. In an opening address, the Manager of the Press, Publishing, Broadcasting and Television General Commission of China, which is supervising the event, thanked Saudi Arabia for taking part in this international cultural demonstration. For his part, Al-Anqari thanked them for inviting Saudi Arabia as guest of honor for this year, noting that this is yet an evidence of the depth of relations between the two countries. He said Saudi Arabia takes part in as many as 30 international book fairs every year. He disclosed that more than 50 Saudi books and novels were translated from Arabic into Chinese. Then the Chinese official and Dr. Al-Anqari co-opened the Saudi pavilion.
