PARIS: Arab News en français was honored at a recent ceremony for bridging the communication gap between Saudi Arabia and France.

The Saudi ambassador to France, Fahad Al-Ruawaily, participated in the event to celebrate four years since the launch of the French edition of Arab News and reiterated the strength of Saudi-French relations, particularly after Vision Golfe 2024.

“Regarding Franco-Saudi relations, surely the cooperation between our two countries, Saudi Arabia and France, is excellent and closer than ever. Our relations are strengthening in all areas, political, economic and cultural,” the Saudi ambassador said.

In an event attended by diplomats, senators, CEOs and intellectuals, Arab News was presented with a senatorial commemorative medal in recognition of its efforts in sharing the voice of the Arab and the francophone world.

The medal was presented by Senator Nathalie Goulet and Al-Ruwaily.

Addressing the audience, Goulet said: “While we are fighting for the francophonie, Saudi Arabia is offering us a gift, a tool, which is Arab News en français.”

Ambassador Al-RuwaiIy in his speech congratulated Arab News on the French edition’s fourth anniversary and the English edition’s upcoming 50th, describing it as “one of our best newspapers.”

Editor-in-Chief Faisal Abbas spoke of the challenges journalists and other media face both within their companies and outside, such as allocating resources to different conflicts.

“In two weeks, we celebrate the fourth anniversary of Arab News en français and in six months we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Arab News, the first English language newspaper in the Arab world,” Abbas said.

“It has been a difficult eight months in the region. But that also gives you the importance or the significance of having credible journalism, having a voice of moderation, especially in a French edition,” Abbas said.

Abbas quoted Napoleon’s “impossible is only a word that exists in the Dictionary of Fools” in reference to the Kingdom’s transformation over the past eight years.

“We went from 9% women participation in the workforce to over 36%, the target set for 2030. In eight years, we went from having almost no rights to women driving, which is the tip of the iceberg, to eight female ambassadors around the world, to the first Arab female Muslim astronaut in space and talking about Rayyanah Barnawi, who went out to the International Space Station last year,” he added.

The Arab News en français event took place on the sidelines of the second edition of Vision Golfe.

“We participated in the second edition of Gulf Vision, which symbolizes the growing and already solid cooperation between France and the Gulf countries. For Saudi Arabia, the forum was an opportunity to once again show the opportunities for development according to the roadmap, Vision 2030,” the Saudi ambassador said.

BANGKOK: Authorities in Vietnam have arrested a leading independent journalist for “abusing democratic freedoms” to undermine the state by posting articles on Facebook, police announced on Saturday.
Huy Duc was detained for investigation for posts that “violate the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals,” the Ministry of Public Security said.
The 62-year-old former senior lieutenant worked for several influential newspapers in Vietnam before being fired in 2009 for criticizing the country’s former communist ally the Soviet Union.
Shortly before his arrest, Duc took aim at Vietnam’s new president To Lam, as well as Nguyen Phu Trong, the communist party general secretary and most powerful individual in the country’s political system.
Lawyer Tran Dinh Trien was held along with Duc on the same charges.
Communist one-party Vietnam has strict curbs on freedom of expression, and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranks it 174th out of 180 countries for press freedom, describing it as one of the world’s worst jailers of journalists.
Duc’s blog, one of the most popular in authoritarian Vietnam, was highly critical of government responses on issues including control of the media, relations with China and corruption.
Duc, whose real name is Truong Huy San, spent a year at Harvard University on a Nieman Fellowship in 2012. During his time abroad, his account of life in Vietnam after the end of the war with the United States, “The Winning Side,” was published.
RSF called for his release.
“The articles of independent journalist Huy Duc are an invaluable source of information enabling the Vietnamese public to access censored information by the Hanoi regime,” RSF Asia-Pacific Bureau Director Cedric Alviani said in a statement.
Rights campaigners say the government has in recent years stepped up a crackdown on civil society, while thousands of people, including several senior government and business leaders, have been caught up in a massive anti-graft campaign.
“No country can develop sustainably based on fear,” Duc wrote on Facebook in May.