APPA PUBLISHING FORUM IN SRI LANKA THIS WEEK
“Historic event to promote Sri Lanka and consolidate global goodwill”
The Asia Pacific Publishers Association (APPA) will for the first time in history hold its 19th annual Publishing Forum in Sri Lanka from November 17 to 19.
The historic forum titled “Publishing for the International Market’ is organized by the Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association and it will be attended by some 40 delegates of the 15 member states. It is due to be held at the BMICH Committee Room A on November 17 from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm.
APPA includes members associations from countries like India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Japan, China, Indonesia, Australia, Brunei, Thailand, Pakistan, Singapore, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Korea, Laos and others including Sri Lanka.
The present APPA President is Dominador D. Buhain of the Philippines.
The Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association told journalists recently that this was a historic forum but the whole event was organized by itself.
“In fact we could have held this forum in Sri Lanka long before this if not for the war not existed here. Now, this event can be used to enhance the image of our country and of course our association here. This is also a golden opportunity for the Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association and authors since they will be able to mingle and exchange views with top publishers from various countries,” the organizers told the media briefing adding that
In fact we could have held this forum in Sri Lanka long before
this if not for the war not existed here. Now, this event can be used to enhance the image of our country and of course our association here
all APPA delegates due to attend this event would be making their first visits to Sri Lanka. The itinerary of the delegates will also include a tour to some interesting locations in Sri Lanka.
The three-day event will comprise the Annual General Meeting of APPA, the Publishing Forum and the APPA Book Awards Judging Committee meeting that will coincide with the awards presentation ceremony.
From 1994 to 1997, the Annual General Meetings of APPA were held in Tokyo. Since 1999, the Annual General Meetings were held in various other countries.
The objective of this year’s forum is to promote publications in the Asia Pacific Region and sharing them by translating the literary works into languages in other member countries.
The proposal to establish APPA was made exactly 20 years ago in the forum “Mutual Cooperation for Publishing in Asia,” held in Tokyo on November 1, 1992 during the ’92 Tokyo International Book Fair”.
On January 26, 1994, the APPA’s first General Assembly and the second Publishing Forum were held in Tokyo. The first APPA president was Toshiyuki Hattori who was the then President of the Japan Book Publishers Association.