Rabat – Morocco’s Minister of Culture, Youth and Communication Mehdi Bensaid announced on November 7 that the International Book and Print Fair (SIEL), which is traditionally held in Casablanca, will take place in Rabat next year.
Bensaid underlined that the space where SIEL is usually held in Casablanca is now operating as a hospital to accommodate patients with COVID-19 and won’t be available to host this year’s event.
“We hope that COVID-19 will be gone by 2023 so that we can organize the SIEL fair in Casablanca again,” he said.
The decision to host the event in Rabat also came after the city was chosen by the Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organized (ISESCO) as the Islamic world’s cultural capital for 2022.
ISESCO’s nomination of Rabat highlights the Moroccan capital’s efforts to improve road safety and reduce traffic congestion through the implementation of the “Rabat Capital of Culture, City of Lights” initiative.
Rabat is also expected to host several other cultural activities next year.
The 2021 SIEL fair was suspended due to the ongoing pandemic.
Morocco’s 2022 finance bill has allocated a budget of about MAD 12 million ($1.3 million) to SIEL. But Bensaid stressed that this amount is “not enough,” and announced that his ministry will seek additional resources to finance the fair through collaborating with other institutions and organizations.
Princess Lalla Hasna inaugurated the 26th SIEL fair that took place in 2020 from February 6 to 16. Former Minister of Culture El Hassan Abyada reported that the event counted nearly half a million visitors, including several government and cultural representatives from across Africa, Europe, USA, Latin America, and Asia.
