Civil dialogue overcomes challenges, benefits region
dubai — Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, on Monday opened the 16th edition of the Arab Media Forum (AMF), an annual event to highlight the most pressing issues facing the media.
The opening ceremony of the twoday forum at the Madinat Jumeirah, being held under the theme ‘Civil Dialogue’, was attended by top government officials, and expert prominent media personalities and journalists from around Arab world.
Addressing the opening session, Mona Ghanim Al Marri, president of Dubai Press Club (DPC) and chairperson of AMF organising committee, said: “We are meeting with the objective of developing new and clear goals for the role of media in the coming period. Fulfilling this role requires a commitment to professionalism and ethics.
“We may have to admit that the mission may not be easy in the light of the situation in the Arab World over the past few years, which has seen constant challenges that put more responsibilities on the media’s shoulders,” she said.
“We have the chance to restore the role of the media in having a positive impact on society and the life of the people with a civil dialogue that can help the region transcend its current challenges, and explore new opportunities and identify the best means of using these opportunities for the region’s benefit,” she added.
Al Marri recalled the address of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, at the World Government Summit held in February this year, in which he said that the Arab World has the potential to revive itself through a clear understanding of the factors that shape its future.
“From the UAE, we invite you to engage in a serious dialogue about what the media can do to help the region overcome its current challenges,” Al Marri said.
She explained that this year’s theme aims to encourage the media to facilitate a dialogue between nations while promoting peace, fostering religious tolerance, sharing positive thoughts and rejecting hatred and racism. It also reflects a firm belief in the media’s ability to bridge cultural and social gaps. It also endorses diversity as a way towards a society that strives for harmony between people, religions, politics and cultures.
“Over the past years, the world witnessed many changes that brought big challenges on political, economic and cultural levels,” she said. “Limiting the consequences of these challenges require better collaboration and understanding, which could lead to a constructive dialogue between civilisations. A dialogue that innovatively discusses the way forward and sets development schemes that change the stagnant situation of the Arab World,” she added.