The sixteenth edition of the Arab Media Forum, AMF, an annual event to highlight the most pressing issues currently facing the media, is set for April 18 and 19 in Dubai.

The two-day gathering at Madinat Jumeirah is expected to attract both industry leaders and media professionals. It will be held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

This year’s forum will be held under the theme, "Civil Dialogue," which highlights the role of media in leading cross-cultural discussions -- inspired by both Arabic and Islamic values and the UAE’s vision to spread happiness through hope, peace and tolerance, according to the Dubai Press Club, DPC, the event’s organiser.

AMF is one of the most important events organised by the DCP, in addition to the Arab Journalism Award Ceremony, the Arab Social Media Influencers Summit, and the Emirati Media Forum. Final preparations for AMF, the region’s biggest media event, are currently underway.

The forum’s theme aims to encourage the media to facilitate a dialogue between nations while promoting peace, fostering religious tolerance, sharing positive thoughts and rejecting hatred and racism.

AMF is moving to strengthen its message by inviting the media to confront social challenges and highlight facts as well as actively promote community growth, stability and prosperity, said Mona Ghanim Al Marri, President of DPC.

Al Marri added that the theme reflects a firm belief in media’s ability to bridge cultural and social gaps. It also endorses diversity as a way towards a society strives for harmony between people, religions, politics and cultures.

"Over the past years, the world witnessed many developments and changes that brought big challenges on political, economic and cultural levels," she stated.

"Limiting the consequences of these challenges require better collaboration and understanding, which [could lead to] a constructive dialogue between civilisations -- a dialogue that innovatively discusses the way forward and sets development schemes that change the stagnant situation of the Arab World," Al Marri said.

source: WAM