Havana, Oct 28 (Prensa Latina) Hosting festivals, reading campaigns and acting as headquarters for the Cuban publishing movement, Havana aims at becoming the World Book Capital City in 2011, said poet Fernando Leon Jacomino on Tuesday.

   The vice-president of the Cuban Book Institute told Prensa Latina that UNESCO grants the title of World Book Capital City to programs that promote books and literature.

   The Cuban publishing industry produces around one thousand new titles every year, thanks to the financial support given by the State, which values books as basic products.

   The International Book Fair of Havana, event held in 40 Cuban cities, attracting writers, designers, librarians and mostly readers, is an example of the government efforts to disseminate culture through reading.

   Leon Jacomino said the country continues printing books despite the rising prices of paper.

   Cuba is not part of the book transnationals, as an indirect result of the US economic blockade against the Island, said Jacomino.

   The cultural magazines published in each of the 14 Cuban provinces, the national and Latin American contests and events that promote the work of young authors and the reading festivals organized by the Book Institute in mountainous areas are some of the actions taken to promote reading in Cuba.

   UNESCO annually appoints a World Book Capital City as part of the celebrations of the International Book Day.

    Launched in 1996, the title was first granted to Madrid, Spain, in 2001 and consecutively to Alexandria, Egypt; New Delhi, India; Antwerp, Belgium; Montreal Canada; Turin, Italy, and Bogota Colombia.

   The title was granted to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 2008 and Beirut, Lebanon, will be appointed the World Book Capital City in 2009.