Asia Pacific publishers to meet in Colombo at APPA AGM

Book publishers in Sri Lanka will receive valuable exposure to their international counterparts later this month when the Asia Pacific Publishers’ Association (APPA) holds its Annual General Meeting and Publishing Forum in Colombo.

27 senior executives representing publishing companies and publishers’ associations in 14 countries besides Sri Lanka have confirmed attendance at the even to be held on 17 November, hosted by the Sri Lanka Book Publishers’ Association (SLBPA).

Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Senior Minister for International Monetary Cooperation and Deputy Minister of Finance will be the Chief Guest at the publishing forum themed ‘Publishing for the International market.’

“This event is a milestone for Sri Lanka’s book publishing industry,” SLBPA President Ranjith Samaranayake said. “Many of the delegates are business leaders in their respective countries, and this is an opportunity for Sri Lanka to give them an insight in to the country’s publishing and printing capabilities.”

He added that the SLBPA is hopeful that the event would lead to enhanced trading among the member countries. Membership in the Asia Pacific Publishers Association is open to national publishers associations in the region. The APPA currently has 17 members. Its AGM is always hosted by a member country. This is the first time that an APPA AGM is taking place in Sri Lanka.

Foreign delegates at the Colombo AGM will represent Brunei, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Timor Leste, Thailand and Vietnam.

The AGM will be followed by the publishing forum which is an event for invitees. This year’s theme was selected in view of the drawbacks members face in their attempts to sell in the international market.

“There have been concerted attempts to market books published in the region, but the focus has mostly been to sell available products, rather than publishing for the international market,” Samaranayake said.

At the conclusion of the publishing forum, members of APPA would and arrive at decisions and adopt resolutions that will seek to advance their efforts to publish for international markets, he noted.