emirates7 - Bodour Al Qasimi, President of the International Publishers Association (IPA), participated in discussions with industry stakeholders at the recently-concluded London Book Fair (LBF 2022).

The President of IPA addressed the roles of publishing, and broadly culture, in achieving lasting peace during times of global conflict. She also reflected on the ways in which publishers, and the wider publishing ecosystem, are uniquely positioned to drive progress towards achieving the 2030 Agenda of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

During a discussion organised by Publishers Association UK, entitled 'The Role of Publishing and Culture during Global Conflict', Al Qasimi said, "During times of conflict, IPA sees its role as most effective in working with member publishers to build their resilience, ensure freedom to publish, and support them as they play a pivotal role of keeping books accessible to readers, especially out of school children and refugees."

She also underscored the role of publishers as peace builders and community healers as they mobilise resources to keep books in the hands of readers and rebuild institutional collections.

Al Qasimi added that the IPA was going beyond words to action, to promote sustainable publishing through initiatives such as the SDG Publishers Compact, which recently passed the milestone of attaining 200 signatories.

The IPA's President also shared insights from the IPA’s recently held InSPIRE Symposium, noting that participating industry experts agreed that tangible progress on sustainability was a supply chain-wide effort that required commitment from all value chain participants.