Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei inspected the 25th Tehran International Book Fair (TIBF) Sunday in a tour that lasted 2.5 hours.

Directors of pavilions were briefing Ayatollah Khamenei on the titles on display in the pavilions as well as latest publications in the field.

Ayatollah Khamenei then met with a group of publishers attending the book fair and made a speech, saying that in light of a massive welcome paid by the public to the book fair in the past few days, authorities must pursue to use the opportunity to deepen and expand book reading culture in the country.

Ayatollah Khamenei also urged for the formation of a team of qualified experts to assess the performance of the book fair in terms of the content offered to the public, adding such an assessment would show whether the book fair has grown in this regard compared to previous editions.

Ayatollah Khamenei then urged for removal of problems facing the publication industry, adding that the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance must resolve the problem of high paper prices.

Ayatollah Khamenei described paper production as a steady, far reaching industry the effects of which extend to future, adding that given the problems of paper making factories are removed, books would become more affordable and book reading aptitude would expand in the society.

Ayatollah Khamenei then raised the issue of translation, saying that translation was not a one-way road and that the government was required to provide the grounds for translation into different languages of top publications in the country on religion, history, literature or science.

Ayatollah Khamenei also urged the relevant authorities to seriously deal with the issues of editing and book layout and to optimize distribution of books through establishment of chain bookstores.