Enhancing voice of publishing key to global growth: Sheikha Bodour

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Leading several discussions on strengthening the global publishing business against the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges, International Publishers Association President Bodour Al Qasimi has undertaken key engagements at Frankfurt Book Fair, held in hybrid format over October 20-24.

She attended the opening ceremony and spoke at a digital panel The Impact of COVID-19 on the Global Publishing Industry, co-organised by World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and Frankfurter Buchmesse.

Together with leading industry experts, including WIPO chief economist Carsten Fink, Al Qasimi highlighted that an effective way to mitigate against the uneven post-pandemic recovery projected for global publishing hubs and smaller frontier markets was in comprehensive collection and usage of data relating to the size, impact, and contributions of all national publishing ecosystem players worldwide.

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These observations coincided with the launch of the ‘WIPO Publishing Industry Report’, on which WIPO and IPA have partnered since 2016. Al Qasimi noted that the data and statistics would support the IPA’s policy advocacy and serve as a key resource for publishers to keep up to date with global markets.

Al Qasimi led the IPA Sustainability Summit with a strong message on the invaluable role global publishing can play in tackling the two most pressing challenges of our time – sustainability and climate change, underscoring that there needs to be an attitudinal shift from viewing the industry’s impact as indirect and informational to include more active contribution.

Noting that IPA was in a unique position to ensure the voice of publishing is included in these discussions and the broader global development dialogue, the IPA president firmly asserted that industry players needed to come together to define more precisely what sustainable publishing’ means to them, and as stakeholders demand more accountability from publishing on environmental, social, and governance commitments.

  As the IPA celebrates its 125th year, Al Qasimi attended an anniversary reception and dinner on the sidelines of the Frankfurt gathering.

The IPA President also attended the Federation of European Publishers (FEP) Rendezvous and discussions on the European publishing market. The session ended with new signatories pledging commitment to the IPA’s InSPIRe Charter, which has already won more than 50 endorsements, representing trade associations, book fairs, and other stakeholders alongside 86 association members. All have pledged to unite with IPA efforts to shape a vibrant, sustainable, and post-pandemic future for global publishing.

As the IPA celebrates its 125th year, Al Qasimi attended an anniversary reception and dinner on the sidelines of the Frankfurt gathering, she thanked the IPA national associations, partners, supporters, and dedicated industry professionals who have worked with the organisation for so long to develop the resilience and longstanding sustainability of global publishing.

In the lead-up to the book fair, Bodour Al Qasimi and the CEO of Frankfurter Buchmesse Juergen Boos gave insightful commentary on the new IPA InSPIRe Report, which was revealed during the book fair with crucial findings on ways global publishing professionals and stakeholders envision the post-pandemic future of the sector.

Earlier, Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi, President of the International Publishers Association (IPA), has called for enhanced solidarity across the entire value chain of the Arab publishing industry to foster a nurturing environment that supports the transformation of the sector into a global cultural heavyweight.

A strong translation infrastructure, together with diversified global partnerships can transform the potential of Arab publishing into a reality, leading to a new renaissance in Arab culture, said the IPA President while delivering a keynote address titled "Global Publishing: The Way Forward" at the Professional Publishing Conference, held on the sidelines of the 10-day Riyadh International Book Fair (RIBF) 2021 that opened on Oct.1, 2021, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Citing the COVID-19 pandemic as a historic opportunity to reimagine the industry, Bodour Al Qasimi encouraged Arab publishers to adopt a forward-looking approach integrated with sustainable business models to fully transform their vision, mindsets and businesses to ready themselves for operating at a global level.

The IPA President also called on industry stakeholders to deliver innovative content and support cultural dialogue between east and west by sharing Arab stories and voices with the rest of the world.