Prince Turki bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, the Assistant Minister of Culture and Information, has praised the great attention given by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz to the first conference for the Arab publishers, held in Riyadh last week. The conference was organized by the Arab publishers union in cooperation with the Saudi publishers society. This conference, which was the first of its kind in the Arab world, has confirmed the important status of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the Arab arena, and at the same time it has projected the great attention given by King Abdullah, Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, and the Second Deputy Premier to the publishing industry as well as to freedom of culture in general, he said. Prince Turki said publishing industry provides a good opportunity to enhancing relations among those who work in this industry and will contribute to shedding light on the Arab culture. Moreover it provides an opportunity to review problems facing this industry, he said adding that it will also provide opportunity to cooperate with the Arab and international organizations concerned with publishing industry. Prince Turki pointed out that the participants of the conference had reviewed issues pertaining to freedom of publication in the Arab world, marketing and distribution of book as well as protection of rights of intellectual property, electronic publication, relation between publisher and author, problems of translation, publication of the school book and the future of publication. Prince Turki lauded the great attention given by minister of culture and information Dr Abdulaziz Khoja to the conference. The remarks of Prince Turki came following his meeting with chairman of the Saudi publishers society Ahmad al-Hamdan, who has confirmed the success of the conference.
