IPA launches international charter to enhance sustainability, resilience of publishing industry

SHARJAH, 21st September, 2021 Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, President of the International Publisher Association (IPA), has formed the International Sustainable Publishing and Industry Resilience (InSPIRe) Plan Taskforce to identify key pandemic-induced challenges facing publishers and promote cooperation on the way forward, following IPA’s landmark report "From Response to Recovery: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Global Publishing Industry". Over 30 global publishing trade associations and book fairs have signed a charter to inspire sustainable post-COVID future for the sector and overcome the challenges it faces. Commenting on the signing of the charter, Al Qasimi said, "Publishing is facing an uncertain recovery if our industry doesn’t come together. While developed publishing markets have fared better, our colleagues in emerging publishing markets are facing existential challenges. The global pandemic doesn’t just affect publishers - the livelihoods of millions of publishers, authors, illustrators, printers, distributors, and booksellers around the world are at risk." She called on all organisations committed to positively shaping global publishing’s post-pandemic future to join the charter, saying that "the publishing industry’s post-pandemic future looks likely to be even more dependent on cooperation, unity, and solidarity. The InSPIRe Charter is a formal framework for coordinated action, so the entire publishing ecosystem can learn and move forward together in these unprecedented times." The InSPIRe Charter is one of the first achievements of the Taskforce. Charter signatories have committed to industry-wide cooperation on a forthcoming plan for the post-pandemic future of publishing. By endorsing the Charter, signatories have agreed to ten areas of cooperation targeting the sector’s interactions with policymakers but

also building inter-sector dialogue and closing skill gaps. The InSPIRe Plan is unique in its intentional inclusion of a broad spectrum of the publishing ecosystem.