UAE media lauded as spur for all-round progress

Dubai: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, VicePresident and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Sunday received Emmanuel Hoog, chief executive of the French news agency, Agence France-Presse and his delegation.

Shaikh Mohammad and Hoog discussed a number of regional and international political and economic issues with a focus on media and ways to energise its role in economic development and to extend bridges of communication between cultures and peoples.

Shaikh Mohammad praised media's purposeful and objective message, and described media as the mirror to the world and the people's voice, especially for those who often go unheard.

"The UAE always opens its wide doors to all media outlets and gives them sufficient room to move and work freely without any barriers or constraints," Shaikh Mohammad said, adding that he has a strong belief in opinion from all quarters getting heard so as to arrive at proper decisions in various fields and at different levels.

Praise

Hoog was impressed by the views and vision of Shaikh Mohammad and his appreciation of media's role. He said the UAE ranked among the top countries in the field in terms of media advancements, and praised available infrastructure in Dubai that, he said, was able to offer all means of logistic support to international media.

Hoog lauded the highly sophisticated media infrastructure, especially from the telecommunication and transportation viewpoint and strong service networks as well as the big measure of freedom given to journalists and media organisations without red tape or restrictions.

The meeting was attended by Princess Haya Bint Al Hussain, wife of Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum; Ahmad Abdullah Al Shaikh, director-general of Dubai Government's media office, Khalifa Saeed Sulaiman, director of the Protocol Department, and Jan Pierre, director of AFP in the Middle East, Aseel Tabbar, AFP director in the Gulf region, and Philip Mason, AFP news editor.