Dubai: Forbes Middle East, the Arabic version of the US-based Forbes magazine, Wednesday launched its first issue in Dubai.

Licenced by Forbes US and published here by Arab Publisher House, the monthly business magazine will focus on topics related to the Middle East and North Africa.

The launch comes a year after Forbes Arabia closed in 2009.

"I got a lot of calls from investors and businessmen to bring Forbes again here," said Khuloud Al Omian, editor-in-chief of Forbes Middle East, who worked as a reporter at Forbes Arabia.

"It took a whole year and there were 20 other publishers who wanted to get the rights. But after a year of negotiations, we got the rights to print and publish the magazine both in English and Arabic," she said.

"Forbes is the ideal partner and I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Steve Forbes for the trust which he and Forbes Media have given us," said Nasser Al Tayyar, President of Arab Publisher House.

Robert Forbes, Vice-President of Forbes, said: "It is not only a critical source of international trade and capital for financing businesses across all sectors, but the region is an inspiration and model for the rest of the world."

Khuloud said the magazine will look at individual success stories, where the big investments in the region are and where the richest Arabs are.

"We will focus on stories of businessmen," she said.

Top online papers

In its first edition, Forbes Middle East published a list of the Top 50 Newspapers Online for 2010 in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.

The list was compiled based on the newspapers online presence, their content and the number of followers they generate.

Topping the list is Al Youm Al Sabea from Egypt.

Gulf News ranked number one in the United Arab Emirates and the top English language online newspaper in the entire Mena region. It ranked seventh overall.

Abdul Hamid Ahmad, Editor-in-Chief, Gulf News, said the ranking between Arabic and English language newspapers should have been made separate because each set caters to different markets. Proud of the newspaper's achievement, he described the current ranking as an incentive to work harder in the future. "This is an incentive to move forward and do more," the Editor-in-Chief said.

While Forbes Middle East's debut edition is in Arabic, an English edition is scheduled to roll out next year.

An accompanying website is also expected to go live in a few months.