The 37th Croatian international book fair opened here on Tuesday, drawing publishers from eight countries.

Croatian Culture Minister Andrea Zlatar Violic said at the opening ceremony that despite the contraction in the publishing section in the recent years, the number of visitors at the book fair is expected to remain at similar levels.

"This means that we have people who want to buy books," she said.

She also announced the plan of a national strategy aimed at reading promotion in January 2015, in line with the EU reading campaign.

Held at the Zagreb Trade Fair Centre, the Six-day event exhibited books of 240 publishing houses from eight countries, including Serbia, Slovenia, Britain, Iran, Germany, the United States, etc.

Books displayed covered a broad range of areas including literature, history, cartoon, medicine, electronics, architecture, as well as education.

Croatian edition of Chinese novelist Mo Yan's novel "Change" caught visitors' eyes in the corner of works of the Nobel Prize winners.

The fair is organized by the Croatian Culture Ministry. Endti