The Abu Dhabi International Book Fair is the most ambitious and fastest growing book fair in the Middle East and North Africa. Abu Dhabi has emerged as the key driving force for the professional and commercial development of the regional publishing industry, and is financially and philosophically committed to the long-term expansion of the global book business.

The 18th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, was organised in 2008 by Kitab - a joint venture of ADACH with the Frankfurt Book Fair. This cooperation allows for the exchange of ideas and expertise to develop an intellectual and professional business development forum for all sectors of the book industry in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond.

KITAB is the new joint venture company between ADACH and the Frankfurt Book Fair. KITAB’s main task is to organize the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair and to transform it into a platform where publishers from East to West meet, exchange ideas and identify business opportunities. In addition, KITAB will implement a number of measures to transform Abu Dhabi into a major publishing centre in the Arab World. These include reading promotion programmes such as the Book Crossing initiative in Abu Dhabi as well as setting up a distribution system for books in the Arab World. Furthermore KITAB will organize the 7th International Copyright Conference for the International Publishers Association in 2010 in line with its efforts to fight piracy on the book market in the Arab World.

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