AN marks 40th anniversary in style

RIYADH: A galaxy of top-notch personalities, including members of the royal family, ministers and diplomats, descended on the venue where Arab News was celebrating its 40th anniversary on Monday. Their gesture and congratulatory remarks proved beyond doubt that the leading English daily is moving in the right direction.
Prince Turki Al-Faisal, chairman of the board of directors of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, was represented by the director of the center, Prince Faisal bin Saud.
Speaking on behalf of Prince Turki, Prince Faisal congratulated Arab News headed by Editor in Chief Mohammed Fahad Al-Harthi and his team for the services it has been rendering for a remarkable period of time.
In his opening address, Al-Harthi said that when Arab News was launched in 1975, nobody could have imagined that it would become the nucleus of the largest media house in the Arab world. “The Saudi Research and Marketing Group publishes 30 titles including dailies, weeklies and monthlies today,” he said.
A documentary on Arab News highlighting its services during the last four decades caught everybody's eye during the grand ceremony.
After appreciating the role being played by Arab News, Prince Faisal said: “Our nations and peoples are experiencing a period of chaotic and harmful interventions and changes. We, as Arabs and Muslim nations, must become more self-reliant and proactive to secure our borders, pursue our interests. For God helps those who help themselves,” he said.
Prince Turki said Iran’s continued interference in Arab affairs is unacceptable. “As we are dealing with Yemen, Iran’s imperial ambitions, as expressed by Ali Younisis, will be checked in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. I hope Obama, who has made universal disarmament his goal and took the unprecedented step of revealing the numbers of nuclear warheads in the American arsenal as a transparency measure and truthfulness, will find the way to make our area free of weapons of mass destruction.”
Al-Harthi said that Prince Faisal bin Salman, who took over as chairman in 2002 until his appointment as Madinah governor, deserves a special mention. “Prince Faisal brought his considerable intellectual weight to bear on SRMG operations by hiring professional journalists and training Saudis for leading positions. Under his visionary stewardship, Arab News consolidated its position in the domestic market and became a true internationally-recognized brand.”
The approach of Arab News is to present differing viewpoints on issues in the region and beyond, said Al-Harthi. “The focus is on ensuring that cultural or ideological differences should not mean disputes and hostility; that we are part of a richly diverse world.We have achieved many milestones over the past 40 years,” he said.
The event was sponsored by Platinum Sponsors LG, Banque Saudi Fransi, Abdullah Qandeel, Centrepoint and Sabic, while the Gold Sponsors were Wipro and Huawei and Silvers sponsors were Riyadh Bank , Maaden, Saudi Steel and Lulu.