The Image
Press Releases 
Catalan culture is to be guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, as a result of the agreement reached this morning in Frankfurt between the president of the Fair, Volker Neumann, and the director of the Institut Ramon Llull (IRL), Xavier Folch.
Volker Neumann and the Xavier Folch..
The meeting was attended by a substantial Catalan delegation, with the IRL represented by its director, Xavier Folch, and the heads of the sections for Creativity, Xavier Albertí, and Humanities and Science, Carles Torner. Also present were Josep Maria Puig de la Bellacasa, president of the Catalan association of publishers, Segimon Borràs, secretary general of the association of publishers in the Catalan language, and the publisher Jordi Nadal. The Frankfurt Fair was represented by its president, Volker Neumann, the director of the Fair's international section, Claudia Kaiser, and the guest of honour adviser, Simone Bühler. The meeting, which lasted 45 minutes, ended with the formal agreement between the Fair and the Institut Ramon Llull to ensure a Catalan presence at Frankfurt, either in 2006 or in 2007.
The outcome of the meeting was regarded as highly positive by the director of the Institut Ramon Llull, who sees it as a unique opportunity for the promotion of Catalan culture, -since the Frankfurt Book Fair is far and away the most important in the world and provides exposure for the invited culture during the entire year, not only in Frankfurt, but in the whole of Germany. That means there will be events, exhibitions, concerts, drama, etc, throughout Germany. It is undoubtedly a unique opportunity.
