The Emirates News Agency, WAM, and The Filipino Times, the region’s most widely read expat publication, have entered into an agreement on a two-way exchange of news benefitting both parties.

This developed following an hour-long meeting at the WAM office on April 15, where the two sides discussed means of cooperation, benefiting from the Agency’s expertise, and obtaining wider dissemination of media, highlighting the achievements and accomplishments of the UAE to the Filipino community and vice versa.

During the meeting, the two sides focused on enriching content creation, highlighting the UAE’s emphasis on tolerance and cultural co-existence. They also reviewed means to advance coordination of information and content of interest to the Philippine community residing in the UAE.

Mohammed Jalal Al Rayssi, WAM executive director, emphasized the importance of cooperating with various media outlets across multiple languages and platforms.

“This visit presents an opportunity to enhance cooperation between WAM and The Filipino Times, ensuring the exchange of news,” he said.

They also covered means to collaborate across various areas including digital media, and exchange of news materials dealing with the UAE’s initiatives and accomplishments in its development journey, including emphasis on tolerance, co-existence, workers’ rights, and human rights developments.

Karen Remo, Partner and Managing Director of New Perspective Media, which owns the paper, said “WAM continues its long history of professionalism,” adding that the meeting would open new avenues of cooperation and contribute to further enhancing news content for The Filipino Times.

She also shared how Filipinos have, through time, become integral part of the UAE, with the first batch arriving as far back as the 1980s and who have, to date, third generation family members – grandchildren – living and being economically productive members of the community.

The panel was also briefed about the number of Filipinos in the UAE, which stands at one million.

Asked by the WAM panel why the newspaper is in English language, Remo explained that for one, Filipinos are excellent in conversational English; and second, it is a way of reaching out to the local populace as well as other expatriate communities, noting that the UAE is host to people from 200 countries, who have made the emirates their second home.

The Filipino Times is the biggest and most trusted Filipino newspaper in the UAE. It has a weekly print run of 60,000 copies with 250,000 readership per week; bolstered by 1 million visitors to its website every month and an engaging e-newsletter sent to its subscribers every day. The Filipino Times is FREE and has a wide and targeted circulation across the 7 emirates of the UAE

The delegation was briefed about the Agency’s various departments, latest technologies and programs.