Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the sixteenth edition of the Arab Media Forum (AMF) is set to kick off on the 18th and 19th of April 2017 at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai under the theme “Civil Dialogue”. The annual event is expected to attract industry leaders and media professionals to highlight the most pressing issues facing the media currently.

Dubai Press Club (DPC), the organizer of AMF revealed that this year’s forum will be held under the theme “Civil Dialogue”. The theme highlights the role of media in taking the lead in facilitating cross-cultural discussions, inspired by the Arabic and Islamic values and the UAE’s vision that aims at providing happiness to people through spreading hope, peace and tolerance.

The theme further aims to encourage the media to strengthen dialogue between nations through spreading goodness and hope, promoting peaceful coexistence, fostering religious tolerance, disseminating positive thoughts and rejecting hatred and racism.

Her Excellency Mona Ghanim Al Marri, President of Dubai Press Club said that this year’s forum continues solidifying its message by inviting media to confront social challenges by highlighting facts and actively engaging communities to achieve growth, stability and prosperity. She added that selecting this theme reflects our firm belief in media’s ability to bridge cultural and social gaps and promote the values of tolerance and coexistence, because the theme endorses diversity as a way to build a new civilization that orchestrates harmony between people, religions, politics and cultures.

Al Marri said: “Over the past years, the world witnessed many developments and changes that brought big challenges on the political, economic and cultural levels. Limiting the consequences of these challenges require better collaboration and understanding, which furnish for a constructive dialogue between civilizations. A dialogue that innovatively discusses the way forward and sets for a development schemes that change the stagnant situation in the Arab World. She added that media today needs to take the lead in promoting this dialogue based on the values of respect, coexistence and tolerance.

The forum’s organizing committee is working on the final preparations for the biggest media event in the region. AMF is one of the most important events that DPC organizes in addition to the Arab Journalism Award ceremony, the Arab Social Media Influencers Summit and the Emirati Media Forum.