MOSCOW, 3 June (BelTA) – The upcoming 500th anniversary of the Belarusian book printing to be marked in 2017 is part of the world's book history, Belarusian Information Minister Lilia Ananich said in an interview with BelTA.
“The upcoming anniversary will be an important event for the Belarusian book printing and for the world's book history and publishing culture,” Lilia Ananich pointed out. She expressed confidence that the 500th anniversary of the printing of Francysk Skaryna's Psalter will be celebrated around the world, including by UNESCO. The celebrations in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will be organized with the support of the CIS Interstate Humanitarian Cooperation Fund.
“As for the Russian Federation, we expect to make use of our joint project Minsk Initiative. We will hold conferences, roundtable discussions and similar events, and we will certainly continue publishing Skaryna's works. We have already implemented a project to publish his books in world's languages. The project was a great success. I think we will publish Skaryna's works in cooperation with Russia,” the Information Minister said.
She added that Belarus and Russia regularly hold joint publishing projects, not only to mark the 500th anniversary of the Belarusian book printing. “We closely cooperate with the Government of Moscow. Remarkable books are printed in Moscow every year as part of publishing projects prepared by Belarusian publishers and sponsored by the Russian side. These books become part of library collections and the cultural heritage of the two nations,” Lilia Ananich emphasized.
The official pointed out that efforts are underway in Belarus to gear up for the celebrations of the landmark anniversary. “The efforts include the publishing projects that have already been implemented and presented at the Minsk International Book Fair in February 2016, the ongoing preparations for the Day of Belarusian Written Language, the themed projects of the National Library, and a number of other cultural projects,” Lilia Ananich said.
