Key players in the publishing industry from both sides of the Taiwan Straits gathered in Taipei on Wednesday for the launch of the 8th Cross-Straits Book Fair.

The fair will focus on the book trade and boosting industry collaboration.

"The book fair has been an important platform for publishing firms on both sides of the Straits," said Kuomintang vice-chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu, at the event's opening ceremony.

"Communication between mainland and Taiwan publishers will put the industry in the vanguard of cultural and creative industries exchange."

This year's book fair, which will last until Sep 21, includes exhibitions, book sales, forums, symposiums and signing ceremonies of cooperation projects.

Nearly 300 publishers have participated in the event.

While Taichung and Tainan will host branch book exhibitions on Saturday, Kaohsiung will put a variety of books on display on Sunday.

Liu Jianguo, vice-president of the Publishers' Association of China, noted that this year's event has made a breakthrough in terms of the quality of books and the scale of the fair.

Previous book fairs have boosted the development of the book trade, copyright trade, capital, technology and content in the publishing industry. This year's event will further strengthen cross-Straits cultural ties and provide readers on both sides with more categories, more styles and more volumes, Liu said.

The Cross-Straits Book Fair has been held annually since 2005, with Xiamen city in Fujian province and Taiwan taking turns as the host city each year.

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(China Daily 09/14/2012 page4)