Ministry of Economy, National Media Council sign MoU

Abu Dhabi, April 8, 2013 (WAM) - The Ministry of Economy (MoE) is resolve to maintain its work relations with the media institutions including the National Media Council (NMC), the country's media regulator, based on honesty, transparency and mutual respect. ''Media has become a vital tool for developing economic sectors, promoting investment opportunities, supporting development plans and improving the competitive edge of the State and its entities,'' said Mohammed Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz Al Shehi, MoE Undersecretary, following the signing yesterday of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Media Council (NMC). The MoU provides for a general framework for regulating MoE-NMC work relations in technical, technological, legal, training and procedural fields and sharing knowledge and institutional experiments. Under the agreement, the two sides will establish a common easily access, reliable data base for information and documents regarding scopes of joint action. Al Shehi said the two signatories had already maintained constructive partnership, especially in protection of intellectual property rights (IPR). The MoE and NMC, he indicated, had joined forces in conducting a series of successful campaign against IPR offenders across the UAE markets. He noted that the NMC had played an instrumental role in these inspection campaigns during which pirated products were seized before reaching to consumers. ''The MoU underlines the MoE's commitment to strengthening its partnership with the major national media actors out of its firm belief in the role and mission of the media in conveying to the public the accurate image about MoE's vision and message of building a diverse, competitive knowledge-based economy,'' he said. The agreement, he added, will provide the most proper framework for maintaining communication between the two sides and boosting mechanisms of cooperation in various avenues in a way that contributes to realising national priorities and goals, the top of which is the UAE Vision 2021. The MoU, he said, will pave the way for implementing slew of joint initiatives. According to him, the MoU will further joint coordination between the two sides in diverse areas of mutual interest like IPR, visits of foreign media persons to the UAE, and standardisation of licenses of media activities. Al Shehi appreciated the role the NMC is playing in raising public awareness about major national issues. Dr. Ali Al Hosani, MoE Assistant Undersecretary for IP, and a number of top officials attended from the MoE, Ibrahim Al Abed, NMC Director General, and a number of top officials from the MoE and NMC attended the MoU signing ceremony at the NMC headquarters in Abu Dhabi. – Emirates News Agency, WAM