UAE news to be available in six additional languages

abu dhabi — News services on Emirates News Agency (WAM), the official news agency of the UAE, will now be available in six more languages — Urdu, French, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese and Spanish.

“The launch of the new website will further spread the UAE’s message of moderation and tolerance to the region and world,” said WAM executive director Mohammed Jalal Al Raisi, on Monday. So far, the agency had its news services in Arabic and English.

The project will connect us to other cultures and languages around the globe, Al Raisi said. “This step will help build more relationship with the communities in the UAE. We will try to increase the news coverage of communities living with us in the UAE.”

Al Raisi said: “This initiative is an attempt to connect and reach out to a larger global audience. It is our strategy when we translate news to other languages.”

All the six languages are among the most popular and widely spoken languages in the world and embassy officials gave thumbs up to such an initiative.

Indian Embassy Second Secretary Kapil Raj said Urdu language news will immensely help the blue-collared workers.

“They can now understand local laws, rules and requirements in a better way. Urdu is the language of the masses,” Raj said.

Portuguese Ambassador to the UAE Joaquim Moreira de Lemos said such initiative will help the community know more about the UAE and for the residents to learn more about Portugal.