On February 6, 2020, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez attended the Opening ceremony of the 29th Havana International Book Fair, opening and cutting the ribbon to inaugurate the Viet Namstand, the honor guest of Cuba at the Book Fair.
Attending the ceremony were Chairman of National Assembly Esteban Lazo Hernández, Deputy Prime Minister Roberto Morales Ojeda, Minister of Culture Alpidio Alfonso Grau, Head of Cuban Communist Party Central Committee Victor Gaute López and many other senior leaders of CubanParty and State of Cuba. On the Vietnamese side, Mrs. Truong Thi Mai, Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, President of the Central Commission for Mass Mobilization and President of the Vietnam-Cuba Friendship Association led the delegation to attend the event.
The annual Havana International Book Fair attracts hundreds of book publishers around the world. In 2019, more than 2 million visitors attended the Fair. This year, according to the organizers, the Fair will introduce about 4,000 titles with more than 4 million copies on political, social, literary, scientific and technical topics, children’s books, organize seminars, workshops, book introduction and publications. It is expected that the 29th Book Fair will attract about 3 million visitors.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Vietnamese book stall, Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Pham Anh Tuan highlighted the great significance of books and reading culture, as well as the stature of Havana International Book Fair, one of the largest annual cultural events in the region, started in 1982. This year, Vietnamese publishers brought to the fair more than 700 books, 2000 publications in Vietnamese, Spanish, English and French to introduce works honoring the Vietnam – Cuba special friendly relationship, the history of our country through the periods, some typical literary works and research works on culture, folk art and the images of the Vietnamese land and people.
This is a significant cultural activity in the series of activities to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Cuba diplomatic relations, December 2, 1960 – December 2, 2020, and at the same time to be a great opportunity for our country’s publishers to exchange, study and explore opportunities to cooperate with Cuban publishers in particular and Latin American publishers in general.
As the guest of honor, the Vietnamese delegation is arranged a 350m2 exhibition space, located at the most solemn position of the fair. Before the ribbon cutting and visiting the Vietnamese stand, the guests were able to enjoy a number of unique traditional music and dance performances performed by the artists from Vietnamese Song, Dance and Music Theater, under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism management.
Following the activities within the framework of Havana International Book Fair, the Vietnamese art troupe had a very successful Gala night on February 7, 2020 at the National Theater of Cuba. Musical notes, lyrics, graceful dances, bustling orchestral performances as Vietnam – My hometown, Mountainous Fairy, Quisas, Rain Forest, repertoires in collaboration with Cuban artists as Siboney, Wantanamera has received great affection and appreciation from the high-ranking leaders of the two Parties, the State, the diplomatic corps and a large audience attending the event. Also within the framework of the Book Fair, the Vietnamese art troupe would have performances at the Vietnamese Stand, National Book Institute, Dora Alonso Hall, Papellon Cuba and film screenings of President Ho Chi Minh – President Fidel Castro and Vietnam – Cuba relations from February 5 to 16, 2020.