Foreign media join in National Day activities

Foreign journalists attending UAE National Day celebrations at the invitation of the National Media Council, NMC, were provided with an opportunity to sample local and regional culture on Friday during a visit to the ‘Arabian Nights’ village, near Al Khatim.

Nearly 80 journalists from over 40 countries took part. They were invited to the village by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, ADTCA, and had the opportunity to experience both the beauty of the UAE’s desert landscape and also traditional cuisine, crafts and heritage.

The programme for their visit, which began earlier in the week, has included special briefings from a number of Ministers and other top Government officials as well as tours of organisations and institutions like the Abu Dhabi media zone, twofour54, the General Women’s Union, Manarat Saadiyat and Masdar City.

They were also invited to a special dinner at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, hosted by the hotel’s general manager, Holger Schroth.

"We were pleased to welcome the media delegates on this dear occasion," Schroth said later. "We want to join the UAE and its people in celebrating this occasion, marking the country’s 42nd birthday and its progress to become one of the world’s most developed countries."

The journalists were also given a tour of the hotel including its rooms and its conference facilities. One of the capital's key landmarks, the Emirates Palace, set in its own grounds at the western end of Abu Dhabi's Corniche with a private beach stretching for 1.3 kilometres, has a total of 394 rooms, 40 conference rooms and two auditoriums with a capacity to hold 2,400 and 1,100 people respectively.

The concluding day of the journalists' visit to the UAE, tomorrow, will include a visit to the National Day celebrations at Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.

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