2013 CBI Foreign Consultants' Seminar

On August 26， 2013， CBI Foreign Consultants' Seminar was held in Beijing. It was hosted by the State Council Information Office and the General Administration of Press and Publication， Radio， Film and Television， and undertaken by China Intercontinental Press and Spanish Planeta Press. Li Wufeng， Vice Minister of the State Council Information Office， and related leaders of the General Administration of Press and Publication， Radio， Film and Television were present at the seminar and granted the letter of appointment to 11 foreign consultants. Focusing on the topic “China Book International in Spanish-speaking Countries”， the consultants and guests present addressed marvelous speeches and made further discussion. About 150 persons including CEOs， presidents， copyright managers etc. from 36 domestic CBI unit members such as China Publishing Group and China International Publishing Group were present at this seminar which was presided over by Zhang Yanbin， Director General of the Third Bureau of the State Council Information Office.

Li Wufeng pointed out in his speech that “China’s development requires a peaceful and stable international environment and strengthened exchange and cooperation with other countries. Books are an important bridge to enhance mutual understandings and trust. The development and prosperity of Chinese and global publishing industry is beneficial to improve the communication and understanding between Chinese and people in other countries， reduce and eliminate the doubts and misunderstandings， and propel the world peace and development. Chinese government has always attached great importance to promoting Chinese books to Spanish-speaking countries. The State Council Information Office has funded 92 Spanish programs through China Book International and China Masterpiece International. These programs introduce various fields such as Chinese politics， economy， history and culture to people in Spanish-speaking regions. The State Council Information Office will continue to support both domestic and foreign publishing organizations to conduct further and profound cooperation with each other so as to quicken the pace of China books entering into international book market including Spanish book market and boost the cultural exchange between China and other countries.”

Li Wufeng and Zhang Yanbin jointly granted the letter of appointment to 11 newly-appointed foreign consultants of China Book International. They are Dr. Thomas Brinkman， Manager General of German Mair Dumont Publishing Group， Ms Monica， a sinologist in Mexico Confucius Institute， Mr George Lossius from British Publishing Technology Group， Mr Jesus， Manager General of Spanish Planeta Group， Mr Tony Lund from Cambridge University Press， Ms Riana， a researcher of Mexican College， Mr Suzan Bidell from Netherland Reed Elsevier Publishing Group， Ms Mercedes Barrell， President of Spanish Public Press， Ms Mandy Hill， Manager General of Publishing Department of the Oxford University Press and Mr Steve Muron from American John Wiley & Sons， Inc. Focusing on “China Book International in Spanish-speaking Countries”， Ms Riana， a researcher of Mexican College， Mr Carlos Davis from Netherlands Wolters Kluwer Group， famous Chinese writers Liu Zhenyun and Zhou Daxin， and famous translators Dong Yansheng and Zhao Deming introduced the conditions of cultural exchange and book markets exchange between China and Spanish-speaking regions and the experience learnt as well as measures taken when domestic and international publishing institutions expanded Spanish-speaking markets， and discussed the problems like how to solve the Chinese-Spanish translation problems faced by Chinese books. It is heard that since the implementation of China Book International and China Masterpiece International in 2006 and 2009 respectively， a working system and mechanism pushed by governments， implemented by enterprises and operated by market has been set up， propelling greatly the “Going Global” of China books. Till now， China Book International has signed 1，095 funding contracts relating to 2，201 programs in 38 language versions with 486 publishers from 61 countries， and China Masterpiece International has signed 67 funding contracts relating to 763 kinds of books in 10 language versions with 43 publishers from 17 countries.

In order to propel the implementation of China Book International and China Masterpiece International， the working team of China Book International has appointed 31 presidents or CEOs， senior editors and famous scholars in publishing field of famous foreign publishing groups as the foreign consultants of CBI. China Book International Foreign Consultants’ Seminar will be held before the Beijing International Book Fair （BIBF） every year. At the seminar， both domestic and foreign publishers will hold discussions on certain themes， and opinions and suggestions of foreign consultants will be heard.

The 2014 CBI Foreign Consultants' Seminar will be jointly undertaken by Beijing Publishing Group and German Mair Dumont Publishing Group.