People browse books at book stands at Cairo International Book Fair in Cairo, Egypt, on Jan 27, 2018. The 49th round of Egypt's Cairo International Book Fair (CIBF) was officially opened to visitors on Saturday, with Algeria as the guest of honor this year. [Photo/Xinhua]

The 49th round of Egypt's Cairo International Book Fair (CIBF) was officially opened to visitors on Saturday, with Algeria as the guest of honor this year.

Held from Jan. 27 to Feb. 10, the fair was inaugurated on Friday evening by Egyptian Culture Minister Enas Abdel-Dayem, who, accompanied by her Algerian counterpart Azzeddine Mihoubi, took a tour at the fair before its opening to visitors on Saturday.

"More than 850 publishers participate in the 2018 CIBF, which marks about 120-percent increase this year," Haitham al-Hajj Ali, the head of the General Egyptian Book Organization, the CIBF official organizer, told Xinhua on Saturday.

At least 27 countries, including Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Paraguay, Russia, India and China, participate in the fair.

China's pavilion was crowded with visitors, including Egyptian students of Chinese language, who toured its various sections featuring Arabic written and translated books on Chinese culture, literature and development experience, in addition to Chinese learning books and Chinese-Arabic lexicons.

First launched in 1969, the CIBF is considered the largest and oldest book fair in the Middle East and second largest worldwide after Germany's Frankfurt Book Fair.