Abu Dhabi, November 14 / WAM / The Emirates News Agency (WAM) announced the expansion of its news services to include 13 languages covering the populations of about 142 countries, by adding 5 new languages: German, Italian, Turkish, Persian, and Hindi, which cover the populations of about 42 countries. These are added to the 6 languages that WAM launched in September 2017, reaching about 100 countries: French, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Urdu, in addition to Arabic and English.

The expansion of the agency's news services will contribute to consolidating the civilized image of the UAE, enhancing its positive reputation, highlighting its pioneering global achievements, as well as spreading the country's message based on tolerance, moderation, and balance.

The continuous development plans for WAM's news services come within the framework of the National Media Council's vision to advance the media sector in the UAE and enhance its ability to spread the country's message, in line with its distinguished position as a global model for coexistence among different races, ethnicities, and religions, by providing media coverage with a wide geographical scope covering all continents of the world.

On this occasion, His Excellency Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of State and Chairman of the National Media Council, said: 'The UAE enjoys a distinguished position internationally and continues its blessed journey to achieve pioneering accomplishments in all fields and sectors, based on the vision and directives of the wise leadership, which spares no effort in providing all factors of success and excellence for the various sectors of the state.'

He added that the National Media Council plays a key and important role in highlighting these achievements across various state sectors, and the expansion of WAM's news services to include 5 new languages will enhance this role by creating important communication channels that address different populations of the world in their languages, which aligns with the state's keenness to support and strengthen friendly relations with the international community.

His Excellency stressed that this new expansion constitutes an important tributary for conveying the state's message and values domestically and externally, especially since the UAE represents a unique model of tolerance and coexistence among peoples, hosting more than 200 nationalities on its soil.

For his part, His Excellency Mohammed Jalal Al Rayssi, Executive Director of WAM, affirmed that the WAM Languages Project received wide interest during its first phase from the countries to which the agency provided news services in their different languages. Over the past period, the project was developed to add 5 new languages serving 42 countries around the world, which will contribute to reaching a wider audience of 142 countries with UAE news and its message.

He added that during the first phase of the project, a significant increase was noticed in the media coverage of state news translated into French, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Urdu.

Al Rayssi pointed out that the agency will, in the next phase, communicate with the countries speaking these newly added languages and sign several cooperation agreements in the field of media exchange, aiming to enhance WAM's vital role in conveying the truth and news to the world with high credibility and professionalism.