Ayatollah Khamenei the Leader of the Islamic Revolution visited the 25th Tehran International Book Fair on Sunday. Speaking to a group of publishers during the visit, His Eminence said that it is necessary to promote reading books in the country through appropriate planning.
Ayatollah Khamenei stressed the need to conduct quality assessment of the annual book fair in Tehran and added that such assessment would reveal whether there has been improvement or not.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution stated that it is necessary to remove the obstacles that lie in the way of publishing books, further stressing: "With the help of the government, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance should remove these obstacles, especially the inflated price of paper."
Ayatollah Khamenei described domestic production of paper as significant for the future of the country and reiterated: "The most important kind of domestic production is production that is significant for the future of the country. Solving the problems of our paper companies will definitely prepare the way for promoting reading and for decreasing the price of books."
Elsewhere in his statements, His Eminence stressed that translation is not a one-way road and added: "The government should prepare the way for translating the good books that are published in the country - especially in the area of religious studies, history, literature and sciences - and for presenting them to the world."
Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted the importance of editing and improving graphic appeal of domestic books and reiterated: "As far as the chain of producing and publishing books is concerned, one of the necessary things is to organize distribution of books and to establish special store chains for books."