Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday launched the Colombo International Book Fair, an annual mega exhibition featuring local and international authors and publishers.
Speaking at the inauguration, the President thanked the local and international publishers and authors for taking part in the fair and encouraged more publishers to do so in the future, reports Xinhua news agency.
The Chairman of Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association, H. Premasiri, said over 400 book stalls would be open at the exhibition.
Special stalls featuring books from Iran, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, India, Britain, Japan and China are open at the fair.
The Colombo Fair will be held for 10 days and is expected to attract thousands of visitors including tourists. This is the 19th book fair held in Sri Lanka.