Arab News national-day supplements, published on the national days of various countries, have played a major role in boosting Saudi relations with the international community. They have led to trade, investment and joint-venture opportunities, and promoted travel and tourism, benefitting the Saudi economy and that of partner countries.
Foreign embassies in Riyadh always stay tuned to the media and look for news sections that are of commercial interest. The Saudi private sector plays a key role in this context in expanding cooperation regionally and internationally. Arab News has published about 150 supplements in the last five years, including special editions on national days and theme-based supplements.
In 2016, Arab News published supplements on the national days of Germany, the UK, France, China, Malaysia, Turkey, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Denmark, South Africa, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Russia, Canada, Indonesia, South Korea, Spain, Austria, Japan and Thailand.
Most of these countries, which have worked closely with Arab News on supplement projects,
are today among the top trading and investment partners of the Kingdom, besides being close political allies. Furthermore, Arab News is probably the only newspaper in the world to publish Haj and Ramadan supplements every year. These are in addition to supplements on travel and tourism, education, dining, real estate and leading companies.
Supplements help the newspaper carve out its niche. They allow Arab News to better engage with its audience. They provide a plethora of information on various topics, as well as products and services of companies that choose to advertise in a particular supplement, thereby attracting customers.
For example, the supplement on Germany, which focused on Saudi-German trade and political ties, helped boost bilateral commerce.
Arab News supplements help create awareness among prospective partners of business potential to be tapped. Saudi Aramco, for example, will invest $7 billion in a refinery and petrochemical integrated development project in Malaysia’s Johor state, making the company the single biggest investor in that country. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said a deal had been concluded between Saudi Aramco and Petronas in February to build and manage it.
“The investment is huge and significant,” Najib said following talks with King Salman. It was a landmark decision following the king’s month-long tour of Asia, including Malaysia and Indonesia, in February. Arab News published detailed articles about the tour.
With Arab News supplements, one can reach an audience of hundreds of thousands of readers who buy or subscribe to the newspaper or read it online. Advertising supplements, in the form of leaflets inserted manually in Arab News, have also become a publicity tool for businesses recently.