Ljiljana Marinkovic, General Manager of Kreativni Centar, the largest Serbian publisher of children's books and the publisher of the Serbian version of Straw Hut, one of Cao's most famous novels, said her publishing house has being trying as much as possible to encourage different programs and introduce Serbian readers to other cultures.

"We are not only publishers, we are really trying to make the public aware of the importance of children's literature for our country's culture," Marinkovic said.

She noted that readers in Serbia are already familiar with traditional Chinese literature for children, but they do not know much about contemporary Chinese children's books.

For this reason Marinkovic said she was particularly glad to publish the Serbian version of a children's book whose author is an important representative of China's literature for children.

Three agreements were signed at the round table including a memorandum of understanding between China Publishing Group and Giunti Editore Group, Italy's main publisher of children's books.

In an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the event, Sergio Giunti, publisher and president of the Giunti Group, said the memorandum of understanding envisages a series of scientific children's books which will likely be presented in 2018, when China will be guest of honor at the Bologna Children's Book Fair.

The series, Giunti said, will result from a collaboration between Chinese and Italian writers and illustrators, and will feature a variety of scientific topics from astronomy to animals and seas. "It is not an easy project, but we believe that children's books can be an important bridge for international dialogue, and a hope for a better world," he said.

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