HAVANA, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cuba's International Book Fair 2018 opened here Thursday amid drumroll with China as this year's guest country.

The opening ceremony, chaired by Cuba's first vice president Miguel Diaz-Canel, gathered writers and guests from 41 countries. Over 4 million copies of books and publications from around the world are being presented at the 10-day show, the 27th edition of the annual book fair seen as one of Cuba's biggest cultural events.

After the opening ceremony, Diaz-Canel attended the event to unveil a Chinese pavilion in the China zone at the fair, which is held at the San Carlos de la Cabana Fortress, east of the capital Havana.

This is the first time China is invited to take part as a guest country.

"This book fair is also an expression of our will to deepen bilateral friendship," said Diaz-Canel.

"Cuba decided to invite China as guest of honor because of our traditional links and both sides have strengthened relations with Beijing's participation in this event," he added.

Organizers said more than 220 writers, artists, officials and representatives of Chinese publishers will participate in the workshops, forums and other exchanges events held during the book fair.

The Cuban book fair last year attracted 416,000 visitors while selling more than 300,000 copies of books worth 132,000 U.S. dollars.