Sponsorship agreement with Actavis

23. June, 2011

^{Photo: Halldór Guðmundsson (to the left), director of Sagenhaftes Island, and Claudio Albrecht (to the right), CEO of Actavis.}

At a press conference on June 23, Halldór Guðmundsson, director of Sagenhaftes Island, and Claudio Albrecht, CEO of the pharmaceutical company Actavis, jointly announced an extensive sponsorship deal between Sagenhaftes Island and Actavis.

At the conference, Halldór Guðmundsson explained that Actavis had been a sponsor of Sagenhaftes Island since last year, but had decided to increase its support even more for 2011. The support will be extremely valuable to the project on account of the enthusiastic reception Iceland has received as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair: More than 180 Icelandic books, and books about Iceland, are now due to be published on the German market this year, and eight Icelandic exhibitions in Frankfurt's most prestigious museums will open in the autumn of 2011. The new agreement enables Sagenhaftes Island to promote its cultural programme prominently in the Book Fair's area, as well as in the Frankfurt area.

Mr Albrecht pointed out that, during the year he had served as CEO, Actavis had placed much importance in the company's Icelandic roots. According to Mr Albrecht, the financial restructuring of the company has gone well, and the company has increased its operations in Iceland, creating over 100 new jobs. It also remains committed to a joint European drug prevention programme, of which the President of Iceland is patron. When Actavis opened new headquarters in Switzerland, many references to Icelandic literature could be seen, most significantly an exhibition on Icelandic contemporary authors hosted in collaboration with Sagenhaftes Island. Mr Albrecht said that the company was particularly pleased to do its utmost to appear as a worthy ambassador to Iceland, and that the Frankfurt Book Fair offered a unique chance in this regard.