TIRANA, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- The 22nd edition of Tirana Book Fair kicked off here on Wednesday attracting many publishers and local readers.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, President of the Albanian Publishers Association (APA) Petrit Ymeri said the fair welcomes around 100 exhibitors and publishers, as well as various cultural institutions and representatives from all Albanian-speaking territories.

Ymeri said that many activities related to publishing and translations will be organized during the five-day fair.

Ymeri underlined that this fair will bring for the Albanian readers various translations of European and Balkan literature masterpieces "not known before for various political and cultural reasons, but also due to the lack of translators of Balkan languages."

In her remarks, Minister of Culture Elva Margariti said that the ministry has been supporting the fair during the past 22 years, pledging continued support to the event.

"The book fair is the right place to share ideas, to communicate, and above all it is the place to talk about literature and the priorities for the coming years," Margariti said.

Chinese Ambassador to Albania Zhou Ding, present at the opening ceremony, expressed his pleasure to be part of this great organization.

"During my mission in Albania I have realized that Albanians are people who love culture and books," Zhou noted.

About 400 books have been published in these years under the mutual program of translations of classic Chinese and Albanian books, according to the ambassador.

"Books cross through time and spaces and can connect different people and world," Zhou said.

The ambassador stressed that the Chinese Embassy will continue to cooperate with the Ministry of Culture and the APA to translate more books from Chinese into Albanian language and vice-versa for the benefit of both peoples.

According to the APA, a total of 800 new books were published during this year in Albania.

Published by 100 publishing houses, books by 200 writers and translators are on display in 90 stalls at the book fair. Enditem