Dr. Abdulaziz bin Mohieddin Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, patronized the 4rth annual party of the Saudi Publishers Association in Riyadh today. Addressing the gathering, Dr. Khoja confirmed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is very much interested in the protection of publishers rights, noting that the effort resulted in the deletion of the Kingdom from a list of countries who are not committed to intellectual property, including author's rights. He said that the Ministry of Culture and Information would like to see an integral publishing industry, calling for publishers to encourage authors and writers by facilitating for them means of technical and material support. The minister emphasized that his ministry apprehends the importance of the effort exerted by publishers to send ideas and thoughts to culture-seekers. In this context, the Ministry plays a mediatory role between the literates and publishers to guarantee the spread of knowledge, he added. Dr. Khoja congratulated Ahmed Al-Hamdan, Chairman of the Saudi Publishers Association, on recently being elected as Arab Publishers Association's Deputy Chairman.
