UAE’s National Media Council (NMC) has signed a strategic partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT) to offer strategic and media support to activities organised by the department related the publishing sector.

The signing took place on the sidelines of the 28th edition of the "Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2018," being April 25 to May 1 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, reported Emirates news agency Wam.

The agreement was signed on behalf of the NMC by Dr Rashid Al Nuaimi, executive director of the Media Affairs Sector in the NMC, and by Abdullah Majed Al Ali, acting executive director of the National Library Sector at DCT Abu Dhabi, on behalf of DCT.

The agreement offers the necessary support to the activities organised by the department for the publishing sector, including the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. The NMC will offer strategic support out of its organisational and legislative role for the media and the publishing sector in the country.

Al Nuaimi said that the NMC’s strategic partnership with DCT confirms its commitment and contribution to developing and advancing the country’s publishing sector, to achieve the ambitions and aspirations of the wise leadership who have prioritised the publishing industry, due to its role in enriching and strengthening national identity and cultural heritage.

He added that the NMC has worked over the last year on issuing 25,083 circulation permits and 1,392 printing permits while the number of requests it received through the country’s ports regarding books, publications and media materials reached over 6 million, which included 4,459,545 books, 1,760,698 brochures, catalogues and commercial publications, 123,906 artistic visual and audio works, 14,072 video games, 21,878 computer programmes and 28 film materials.

Al Nuaimi explained that this data reflects the NMC’s positive role in advancing the media and publishing sectors, and its electronic media content database contains many categories of books that comprise 80,000 titles, which is equivalent to 50 copies for every title.