25.10.2015.

60th Belgrade Book Fair opened

60th International Belgrade Book Fair was officially opened tonight in Hall 2 of the Belgrade Fair, and in the next seven days lovers of the written word can enjoy the rich fair offer which happens once a year.

On behalf of Russia, the country guest of honor, the participants of the Fair were welcomed by the Director of the Moscow Foundation for historical perspective and editor of the series of books about the historical ties between Russia and Serbia Natalia Narochnitskaya. She said, citing Patriarch PavlePaul, that in our time we can often hear that the books are becoming a thing of thethe past, that the digital age dictates its own rules, while life testifies about something else.

Director and writer Emir Kusturica had the honor to officially open this year's Book Fair. In his speech "Be literate", he stressed that "neverhas there been so many books and never has there been less literate people" and added that "everyone writes today, and hardly anyone reads."

- Being literate is the formula that opens the doors tounattainable secrets and merits that a man can achieve in his brief stay on Earth - Kusturicasaid.

The opening of the book fair was attended by the Russian Ambassador in our country Alexander Chepurin, representatives of city government, the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, and numerous persons from public and cultural life.

In Hall 1, at the sales stand of Odbrana Media Centre, new and old editions will be available, for all fans of military expert, teaching-

educational, military scientific and publicist literature, and the military magazines Odbrana, New Courier, Military Act and Military Technical Courier. Fourteen books, printed in 2015, will be specially presented at the fair promotions in the conference area of the stand.

This year, Odbrana Media Centre will for the first time at the Book Fair present one of its exhibitions from the Art Gallery Collection of the Central Military Club - "Little Stories from the Great War." The setting was a result of cooperation with the Association of Descendants of Serbian Warriors 1912-1920 and the Museum of Osecina, and it will be exhibited at the stand of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Directorate for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the region (Hall 4), from 30 October to 1 November. The exhibition will be followed by the debate "Serbian Soldier: Love of the Fatherland", scheduled for 30 October at 15 o’clock, where speeches will be given by Colonel StevicaS Karapandzin, Director of Odbrana Media Centre, Prof.Dr. Sci. Med. Zoran J Vojic, psychiatrist; MiroslavJacimovic, historian of the Vojvodina Archive and AleksandarVasilic, author and head of the project "Album of memories of our ancestors from the First World War."