Doha: Culture Minister H E Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Thani inaugurated the foremost edition of the Ramadan Book Fair, which was held at Souq Waqif yesterday.

The commencement ritual was also accompanied by Minister of State and Qatar National Library President H E Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kawari.

Not only did they come, but they also toured the Kiosks along with other officials and also met and talked with exhibitors. The first day of the exhibition was attended by a large number of families and people from all walks of life.

The Minister of Culture also made visits to management and non-government organisations’ stalls at the book fair, with the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Endowment (Awqaf) and Islamic Affairs, Qatar Charity, and Qatar Read — part of Qatar Foundation, among others.

While speaking on the sidelines of the affair, Exhibition Manager ‘Jassim Ahmed Al Buainain’ stated the book fair is a very good opportunity for them to invest in reading, learning, and enhancing spiritual, artistic, and colonial knowledge by selecting a good book from the fair.

According to his interview, the book fair aims to promote a culture of reading in the country by providing books to readers. The event also promotes the publishing houses in reaching the readers—this exhibition is held in the holy month of Ramadan in order to focus especially on religious books.

Al Jisra Theatre will hold several artistic conferences throughout the book fair. Children’s Theatre will be scheduling stage shows for children during the nine-day event. And the workshops on Islamic arts will also take place daily,” he added.

In choosing Souq Waqif as the fair venue, he stated this is to attract a large number of visitors.

The Ministry of Culture organised the book fair and was represented by Qatar Cultural and Heritage Events.