The event was attended by over 100 guests, including high level government officials, from both China and the UAE.

Vice-President Sun Yusheng said the establishment of CCTV Regional Centre in the Middle East is aimed at accelerating political, economic, cultural and media communications between China and the Middle-East region, as well as facilitate objective and comprehensive reporting on the regional landscape. CCTV’s Middle-East Regional Centre will oversee correspondents stationed in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, and serve as the news gathering centre of regional stations and the assignment centre of breaking news.

Abdullatif AlMulla, Group Chief Executive Officer of TECOM Investments, member of Dubai Holding, said, ‘The foray of CCTV into the Middle East, with the opening of their Centre in Dubai, marks an important milestone for TECOM Investments’ Media Cluster. The presence of China’s national television station and one of its most important broadcast companies highlights Dubai’s role on the global landscape and underlines the enabling facilities and services offered through the media free zone to potential international partners.

‘We welcome CCTV and foresee it playing a vital role in creating better awareness of our offerings to the Chinese companies that are keen to explore the Middle East market. We consider this synergy will also serve to nurture the existing partnership between the UAE and China.’

So far, CCTV has already opened seven overseas regional centres to include Europe, North America, Russia, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Middle-East and Latin America. CCTV Middle East is the last of the seven regional centres to be launched, taking CCTV’s total overseas correspondent stations to 50. It symbolizes a new era for CCTV’s overseas news gathering and reporting services with a global network covering all the main continents and key regions across the world.