Abu Dhabi: UAE’s message of tolerance and peaceful coexistence will be communicated to the world with the launch of six new language services as part of the national news agency’s WAM biggest expansion since 1970s, senior officials said on Sunday.
Sultan Ahmad Al Jaber, Minister of State and Chairman of the National Media Council, said: “UAE has successfully attained a broad range of pioneering achievements and milestones thanks to the wise vision and policies of its leadership, therefore the expansion of WAM’s news services to include eight languages is instrumental to further reinforce the UAE’s values that are built on tolerance, moderation and acceptance of others, all of which are key traits of Emiratis.
WAM website will now air news services in eight languages: French, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Chinese or Mandarin and Urdu, in addition to the already existing services in Arabic and English.
“The NMC has a role and responsibility to underscore these national achievements in line with the country’s belief in constructive and positive cooperation which has been instilled by the UAE’s leadership, and in light of the country’s status as a global role model for openness to the world’s cultures,” he added.
Al Jaber said, “Engaging various nations in their own language is an important means to reach out to the people of the world while highlighting the UAE’s positions on a range of regional and international affairs and issues, particularly in light of the UAE’s role as a key regional player, and its emphasis on supporting and cementing friendship and cooperation with other countries in the international community.”
Al Jaber added UAE has established itself as a global hub encompassing more than 200 nationalities, while expressing confidence that communicating with various nationalities in their own languages will further increase social cohesion and the fundamental values of coexistence.
Mohammad Jalal Al Raisi, Executive Director of the Emirates News Agency (WAM), said: “The launch of the multi-language news service reflects WAM’s commitment to highlighting the UAE’s various achievements and its positive image by providing a broad spectrum of news services to a vast segment of the global audience.”
Al Raisi reaffirmed that WAM will continue to work in line with the UAE’s national directions, and in a way that continually preserves its achievements and interests by always keeping up to speed with the latest media and technological trends to effectively raise the profile of the Emirates News Agency among regional and international news agencies.
Through its 41-year history, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) has witnessed a series of key successes and growth, including the recent launch of WAM Editor, which enables journalists who work with the news agency to publish stories from anywhere in the world from the convenience of their smartphones or tablets.
In addition, WAM recently announced the launch of the WAM Live service, which enables the public to view the latest local, regional and international news as soon as it breaks through a digital interactive screen in order to provide a fully rounded news experience.
WAM has successfully made notable enhancements in its approach to widespread media coverage including increasing its foreign correspondents during the first half of 2017 to 17 across various cities and capitals around the world, issuing 43,609 press releases, broadcasting 47,252 photographs and increasing the number of specialised reports developed by the agency to 261 from the beginning of the year to date.
Other key achievements by WAM include the launch of the e-gate portal to provide services to its strategic partners, the completion of a professional manual to guarantee the implementation of international best practices in the field of media. In addition, WAM augmented its reach to a large number of countries by signing a MoU with ENEX to conveniently facilitate the exchange of media content and the distribution of WAM’s video broadcasts internationally.
WAM website will now air news services in eight languages: French, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Chinese or Mandarin and Urdu, in addition to the already existing services in Arabic and English.
