India becomes first Asian country to participate as 'Guest of Honour' in the Book Fair #AsianCountry #Sukumarbalakrishnan

Shri Sanjay Dhotre, Union Minister of State (MoS) for Human Resource Development (HRD) inaugurated the India Pavilion at the International Book Fair at Guadaljara, Mexico. India is the 'Guest of Honour Country' in this book fair, and it is the first Asian country to have received this honour.

This fair, which is called Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadaljara in Spanish, is the biggest book fair in the Spanish-speaking world. Shri Sanjay Dhotre delivered the inaugural address at the book fair during its opening yesterday. The National Book Trust (NBT), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Government of India (GoI), is participating as the nodal agency of the GoI in this book fair.

Shri Dhotre, while speaking at the inaugural ceremony, highlighted the deep literary connection between India and Mexico and referred to the legendry Mexican poet Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz's first visit to India in 1952. He said, "Paz took deep interest in the culture and heritage of India, and he wrote poems on Vrindavan, Shiva-Parvati, and on Amir Khusro. Shri Dhotre also said that India and Mexico are in opposite directions on the world map and are thousands of miles away from each other, but both the countries have great similarities in terms of their people, biodiversity, family and cultural values, and even climatic conditions. He added that both the countries represent very old civilisations, and both have undertaken a sustained struggle to get independence from the colonial rule.

Referring to the 150th anniversary celebration of the birth of the Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi, Shri Dhotre said that Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy 'Let Our Lives Be Open Books' is the theme of the India pavilion in the fair, as it represents, among other things, an atmosphere of interaction and communication provided by the platforms such as book fairs.

Shri Dhotre expressed hope that this book fair will provide platform for an accelerated literary, academic and cultural exchange between the two countries, and great literary pieces of both the countries will be translated into Indian languages and Spanish. He also invited all the publishers having gathered from across the world to the World Book Fair being organised by NBT in New Delhi, during January 2020.

This is the 33rd edition of Guadaljara International Book Fair will continue till 8 December 2019.