'Al Akhbar' looks at wider Arab coverage

The first issue of the Egyptian Al Akhbar Arabic daily was published here yesterdayfollowing the signing of an agreement between the Egyptian Akhbar Al Yowm Publishing Group and Al Ghurair Printing Press.

Jalal Dwedar, Al Akhbar Editor-in-Chief, said during a press conference: "We are grateful for the extensive support from Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Information and Culture, and Sheikh Hasher Maktoum, Dubai Director of Information, for this new project.

"Upon an initiative undertaken by the Akhbar Al Yowm Publishing Group, Al Akhbar as of today will be published in Dubai and distributed in the UAE and Oman as well."

Dwedar added: "After we started publishing in Kuwait some time ago, we decided to launch Al Akhbar from Dubai in cooperation with Al Ghurair Printing Press. We are looking for a wider range of coverage. The new edition contains four extra pages that cover Arabic and international news.

"We will gradually increase our interest in local news in addition to the news of the huge Egyptian community residing in the UAE and region. The Egyptians in the region will have the chance to be informed on all the daily news in Egypt through Al Akhbar."

Explaining why the UAE had been chosen as a target, Dwedar said: "From the UAE we could easily extend our distribution to Oman. The print facilities, qualities and services offered in the UAE are tremendous and serve our goals. We always aim to run a perfect quality and wide news coverage to our readers."

He also announced that talks are ongoing to print in Riyadh in the next one or two months.

Dwedar said: "We applied for an approval to print in Dubai some four to five months ago. Very recently we received the go-ahead. Our first mission is to publish successfully in the Arabic world. Then we aim to extend our job to the international community."

Khalid Al Ghurair, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al Ghurair Printing Press, Abdul Aziz Dawood, the Egyptian Consul General in Dubai and the Northern Emirates and many media professionals attended the press conference at the Dubai Press Club.

Khalid Al Ghurair said: "Our printing house has supplied all the required facilities and services to help publish the Arabic daily Al Akhbar and Akhbar Al Yowm from Dubai. I believe that this move is a national duty as it portrays the continuous interaction between Arab people. Media today plays a major role in reinforcing Arab-Arab relations."