Arab Planning Institute, Media Forum ink MoU

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 9, (KUNA): The Arab Planning Institute, headed by the Institute’s Director, Dr. Badr Malallah, signed on Thursday a memorandum of understanding with the Arab Media Forum headed by its Secretary- General Madi Al-Khamis, which is concerned with exchanging information and data on media development.

Dr. Malallah told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) on the sidelines of the signing that the memorandum represents a general framework for cooperation between the Arab Media Forum and the Arab Planning Institute and focuses on the role of media in development, which is the developmental role of the media and receives attention from the forum.

He added that the Arab Media Forum brings together distinguished elite of thinkers, media professionals and journalists in the Arab world which positively affects Arab thought, values and culture.

He explained that one of the motives for signing this memorandum is the importance of the media as a partner in development, pointing out that the institute provides training, advisory, institutional, cultural and awareness support for the forum to contribute to achieving its objectives.

He expressed the hope that this memorandum would result in more activation of the forum’s role and increase the role of the Institute in supporting development media in the

Arab region in general and in Kuwait in particular.

For his part, Al-Khamis told KUNA that the signing of the memorandum of understanding is an important event in his career and an important addition to the forum, pointing out that the memorandum is not just a protocol, but a positive addition to attending the forum on the Arab arena.

He added that His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, may God rest his soul, after the end of the first media forum in 2003 when he was prime minister, called for the forum to focus on the Arab dimension which indicates his keenness and the extent of his interest in the issues of the Arab nation.