The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has chosen the Armenian city of Yerevan as the 2012 World Book Capital as part of the agency’s ongoing efforts to promote books and reading.Armenia’s capital and largest city was chosen for the quality and variety of the programme it presented to the selection committee, which met at Unesco’s headquarters in Paris on July 2010, the UN News Service said.

The selection committee brings together representatives of Unesco and some of the main professional associations in the book industry – the International Publishers Association, the International Booksellers Federation and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.

"I congratulate the city of Yerevan, which has presented a particularly interesting programme with many different themes, including the freedom of expression, as well as several activities for children, who will be the readers and authors of tomorrow," Unesco Director-General Irina Bokova said.
"Mobilizing the entire world of books and reading, from authors to printers and publishers, will undoubtedly help to make the Yerevan programme a major success, with a sustainable impact," Bokova said.

The city chosen as World Book Capital holds the distinction for one year, beginning on World Book and Copyright Day, which is observed on April 23.

Yerevan is the 12th city to be designated World Book Capital, after Madrid (2001), Alexandria (2002), New Delhi (2003), Antwerp (2004), Montreal (2005), Turin (2006), Bogotá (2007), Amsterdam (2008), Beirut (2009), Ljubljana (2010) and Buenos Aires (2011).