Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesia International Book Fair (IIBF) is being held to promote the importance of literacy, Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration, Abdul Halim Iskandar, has said.

"This (IIBF) will prevent misinterpretation of science and help writers get inputs for improving their work," he remarked while opening the 42nd IIBF in Hall B of Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), here on Wednesday, according to a press release issued the same day.

In addition, the IIBF—organized by the Indonesian Publishers Association (Ikapi) in collaboration with the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions—can be a space for dialogue between writers and readers, he added.

At Wednesday's event, Iskandar said that for him, books are a medium for dialogue and transforming ideas through face-to-face meetings between teachers and students so that students' abilities can be measured. Therefore, students must listen to learning materials directly from teachers, he added.

The minister has written Village SDGs books as guidelines for village development in Indonesia.

He launched his second book in the Village SDGs trilogy, entitled Village SDGs: Methodology and Measurement.

The book covers several things, such as a map of micro-data collection, which is conducted using a participatory approach, data processing, and the implementation in development planning and rural communities' empowerment.

Head of the IIBF 2022 committee, Wahyu Rinanto, said that the international book exhibition, which was first held in 1980, has drawn 134 participants, both from within and outside the country, with the targeted number of visitors pegged at 25 thousand.

He informed that in addition to exhibiting thousands of books from global publishers, the exhibition, which is themed "Empowering Creative People in A Creative Way,” will feature 45 events from November 9–13, 2022.

Rinanto conveyed his gratitude to the ministry for supporting the exhibition.

Related news: Minister hopes IBF to help increase public interest in reading
Related news: Indonesia to showcase 200 book titles at London Book Fair



Translator: Tri Meilani, Raka Adji
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2022