President of the GPA, Asare Yamoah, and Vice President Edward Yaw Udzu, spoke of the challenges faced by publishers in Ghana, especially in the field of education publishing and they informed the IPA of the government’s plans to review the local copyright act. Jobava and Borghino offered the IPA’s help in responding to the government’s plans and outlined ways in which the GPA could play a bigger role in our organization.
While in Accra, Jobava and Borghino also attended the opening ceremony of the UNESCO 2023 World Book Capital City which saw Guadalajara in Mexico hand over the crown to Accra as capital for the coming year. The President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, officially opened the year of events and stressed the importance of education and literacy for his country. UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay was also there to launch the event, and in her speech, she said ‘the potential of books is especially important in Africa, where the population is young, increasingly literate and connected.’
IPA was instrumental in creating the World Book Capital City concept in 2001 and we continue to be a member of the UNESCO advisory board that helps select the winning city every year.