Dubai: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) got a new English daily newspaper on Thursday with the launch of The National in Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi Media Co (ADMC), a diversified entertainment and media conglomerate, unveiled the newspaper at a gala event at the Emirates Palace Hotel. Gracing the event was General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, deputy supreme commander of the armed forces and chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.

The National is the fourth major English daily in the UAE. The Gulf News and the Khaleej Times are published from Dubai. The Gulf Today comes out from Sharjah.

"After eight months of preparation and anticipation, we are finally live and on the presses," Martin Newland, editor-in-chief of The National, said in a statement.

"Now it is up to discerning readers to sample a quality newspaper with content drawn from its own reporters across the nation and the world. We aim to provide quality, must-have reading. When we cover a story, we will own it, in the process creating a national conversation," he said.

A former editor of London's Daily Telegraph and former launch editor of Canada's National Post, Newland said The National contained 80 pages of "intelligent and well-designed" news, business, sports, culture and features coverage.

"Content will be designed to reflect our readers' concerns in relation to the national character of the UAE, in the context of an interconnected world," he said.

Guests at the launch event were introduced by video to the newspaper's array of reporters and writers, based in the seven emirates of the UAE and foreign bureaux throughout the world.

A 200-strong team of journalists is behind the launch of the newspaper. ADMC is a 100-million-dirham ($27.2 million) public joint stock company launched in 2007 and wholly owned by the government of the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Launched under Abu Dhabi Law No.13 for 2007, the company has been entrusted to carry out all media-related activities, including broadcasting, production, marketing, advertisement and other associated services, plus provision of media services via the Internet or any other medium and publishing of newspapers and magazines in Arabic and other languages.

Under the law, ADMC acquired the ownership of the Abu Dhabi Satellite Channel, Abu Dhabi Sport Channel, Abu Dhabi Radio, Emarat FM Radio, Holy Quran Radio, Arabic newspaper Al Ittihad, the Zahrat Al Khaleej, Al Super and Majid magazines, which were all previously owned by the Emirates Media Inc.

Source : IANS