DUBAI, 18 October 2006 — Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid Al-Maktoum, vice president, prime minister and ruler of Dubai, has donated 5 million dirhams to the coffers of the UAE Journalists Association (UAEJA) to enable the association meet its social and humanitarian commitments to its members.
According to WAM news agency, the money is also to be used in paying back loans granted to 60 members of the association, to reflect Sheikh Mohammed’s commitment to provide for the journalists moral and material stability and to ease on them the burden of their living conditions.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Mohammed hosted an iftar banquet in honor of the local and international media on Monday evening. “Journalists should be the nation’s conscious voice and catalysts for change,” WAM news agency quoted Sheikh Mohammed as saying.
Present at the meeting were Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah ibn Zayed Al-Nahyan, Sheikh Hamdan ibn Mohammed ibn Rashid, chairman of Dubai Executive Council and other sheikhs.
