Syria's al-Sharaa opens the biggest Arab Media Summit yet

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa opened the Arab Media Summit in Dubai on Tuesday with a keynote dialogue titled "Syria of the Future", the first appearance by a Syrian head of state at the event.

Organisers say the three-day summit at Dubai World Trade Centre is the largest in its history, running more than 175 sessions with over 400 speakers from 23 countries across 8 forums.

Al-Sharaa told Euronews that escalation in the region looked to be "on the way" but that states should keep calm and work together.

Away from the main stage, the UAE gave its fullest account yet of the cyber-attacks it faced this year.

Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, head of the UAE Cybersecurity Council, told Euronews that every missile and drone strike on a port, refinery or airport was matched by a cyber-attack on the same target.

"Cyber-crimes, cyber terrorism, cyber warfare, all of it came together during this crisis," he said, calling for an international convention to govern state conduct in cyberspace.

Dubai also set out new figures for its media sector. Nehal Badri, secretary general of the Dubai Media Council, said media now accounts for 1.4% of the emirate's gross domestic product, up from 0.5% when the council set its strategy in 2023. The target is 3% by 2033. Registered media companies have reached 25,000.

"It's not just attracting the companies to have Dubai as their home, but to retain them," Badri told Euronews.

Badri has worked in the sector for more than 20 years and opened the council's programme with an address titled From Dubai: The World Films, Plays and Streams.

"The narrative was always other countries telling our stories,” she said. "Now you have institutions that can tell their own stories from Dubai."

The definition of media has widened too. The event began as the Arab Media Forum, small and regional. It now runs eight forums covering film, gaming, podcasting and influencers alongside journalism.

"We had journalism, multimedia and graphic design only," Badri said. "Now you have gaming, you have films."

The Games Forum heard from Saifi Ismail of Yalla Group, the first UAE technology company to list on the New York Stock Exchange, and from a panel with the UNDP on the social uses of games.

A television panel brought together the Gulf drama actors Samira Ahmed, Dawood Hussain and Mohammed Al Mansoor. An exhibition of early Gulf broadcast equipment, much of it still working, drew steady traffic from younger delegates.

Dr Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, chairman of the defence affairs, interior and foreign affairs committee at the UAE Federal National Council, said coverage of international relations concentrated too heavily on governments.

"What we need is to invest in people-to-people diplomacy, and the media should take a lead in playing that role," he told Euronews.

He cited the UAE relief operation in Nepal, where flooding and landslides have affected thousands and where the UAE has flown in successive aid consignments since early September. "We have here in the UAE a community of more than 500,000 Nepalese," he said.

On regulation, Al Nuaimi said the UAE, home to some 200 nationalities, asks for one thing. "We don't ask people to change. The only thing we ask them to respect is the rule of law," he said.

Mona Ghanem Al Marri, vice chairperson and managing director of the Dubai Media Council and president of Dubai Press Club, said foreign direct investment in the sector reached $1.62 billion in 2024, writing for Euronews on opening day.