LAHORE: A five-day (Feb 3-7) 26th annual Lahore International Book Fair (LIBF) will open at Expo Centre, Johar Town, on Friday (today).

The fair to be inaugurated by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif will be the largest event of its kind in Pakistan featuring publishers and book sellers from across Pakistan as well as the US, the UK, Singapore, Turkey, Germany and India.

The Punjab Textbook Board will mark its 50th anniversary by organising competitions of speech, painting and essay writing.

Deutsche Welle radio and TV will launch their official Urdu website for Deutsche Welle Urdu Service. Deutsche Welle has been a participant of the LIBF since last year and to mark the website launch and 26th edition of LIBF, a delegation of Deutsche Welle is also arriving from Germany.

A delegation of Afro-Asian Book Council, a representative of South and South East Asian Publishing Industry, will also attend the event.