Bodour Al Qasimi participates in WIPO diplomatic conference in Morocco

Sharjah, June 20, 2013 (WAM) - Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi has highlighted the importance of providing all means of intellectual support to people with special needs across the world and facilitating their access to books as they form an essential part of the community and must be afforded every right to develop themselves and their cognitive abilities. Sheikha Bodour made these remarks while giving the Arab Publishers address at the Diplomatic Conference of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), taking place in Marrakesh, Morocco, from the 17th to the 28th of June. Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi, Founder and CEO of the Sharjah based Kalimat Publishing House, participated in the Diplomatic Conference at the invitation of the International Publishing Association (IPA) to deliver the Arabic address during the conference in recognition of her role in supporting publishing for children and disabled individuals in the Arab world, as well as her role as communication facilitator with wide-ranging international organisations and institutions, to help support and enrich the cultural exposure of children and individuals with special needs. The Diplomatic Conference, which is being held for the first time, is dedicated to pursuing talks about the implementation of a treaty to ensure that blind and visually impaired people who are unable to read printed materials can have access to copyright-protected materials and releases. Sheikha Bodour expressed her thanks and appreciation to the host country and the Organising Committee of the Conference, saying, "Many government and private institutions from all around the world are constantly seeking to implement humanitarian, social and cultural initiatives out of their eagerness and demand to have a positive role in the field of corporate social responsibility. We, as professionals in the publishing sector, shoulder a great responsibility towards our communities, we shoulder intellectual, cultural, social and humanitarian responsibility associated with the past, present, and future." She added, "We all believe that reading is the right of all humanity without discrimination, simply because we believe that reading is the key to the future and an invaluable source of inspiration, creativity and development for everyone. Hence, we strive to make reading accessible for all those who are deprived of sight, because we do not want them to be deprived of the intellectual light." She expressed her fervent hope that the conference would be a success and that it would achieve its objectives, expressing the willingness of all Arab publishers to work together with all parties involved and make every possible effort to resolve all the issues and details concerning the realisation of the treaty into reality with the aim of securing a better future for more than 300 million men, women, and children around the world. The conference is being attended by government delegations and representatives from international government and non-government organisations operating in the field of publishing and authorship in the world. A total of 300 million blind and visually impaired persons who are unable to read printed materials, 90 per cent of whom are in developing countries, will benefit from the treaty. – Emirates News Agency, WAM