Gathering over one hundred members and guests, the recurring themes of the assembly were solidarity, cooperation and dialogue with updates on IPA’s InSPIRe Plan, the IPA Academy and the 33rd International Publishers Congress. The importance of intra-sector cooperation has been a fundamental part of the InSPIRe plan and was highlighted when Burhan Sönmez, the new President of PEN International spoke of the shared combat of authors and publishers for freedom of expression.

Before the General Assembly 54 Full Members of the IPA cast their ballots in response to seven applications. Reacting to the votes, IPA President Bodour Al Qasimi said: We are delighted to welcome 3 new members into the IPA and see 4 provisional members become full members and, as a result, increase their engagement in the international publishing community. These last 18 months have presented different challenges to many parts of our sector and these moments where we can come together, even virtually, are so powerful.

Reacting to the results of the Committee elections, IPA Secretary General, José Borghino said: Many members put forward great candidates for these elections and I thank them for their commitment to IPA. I extend a warm welcome to those newly elected Committee members and extend my gratitude to departing members Pierre Dutilleul, Gbadega Adedapo, Khaled Bilbeisi and Giulia Marangoni for the years of selfless work they devoted to the Executive, Membership and Freedom to Publish Committees. 

The new members are:

Associate Member:

  • European Educational Publishers Group (EEPG)

Provisional Members:

  • Pakistan Publishers and Booksellers Association (PPBA)
  • Sudanese Publishers Association (SPU)

Full members (transition from provisional membership)

  • Book Industry Association of Jamaica (BIAJ)
  • Ghana Publishers Association (GPA)
  • Libyan Publishers Union (LPU)
  • Somali Publishers Association (SPA)

Committee elections were held for the Freedom to Publish Committee (4 of 9 seats open for election) and Membership Committee (5 of 7 seats open for election). The results of the Committee elections are as follows:  

Elected members of the IPA Freedom to Publish Committee 

  • Kristenn EINARSSON (re-elected)
  • Jessica SAENGER (re-elected)
  • Trasvin JITTIDECHARAK (re-elected)
  • Roberto BANCHIK

Elected members of the IPA Membership Committee 

  • Joachim KAUFMANN (re-elected)
  • Catherine BLACHE (re-elected)
  • Dante CID
  • Giovanni HOEPLI
  • Maxwell WAHOME