The Foreign Minister of Portugal Augusto Santos Silva has commended the pioneering achievements made by the UAE thanks to the in-depth vision and wise leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and their Highnesses the Rulers of the Emirates.

Speaking to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), the top diplomat hailed the transformational drive adopted by the UAE’s state media outlet to keep pace with the multi-faceted and fast-paced changes occurring in the media landscape worldwide, singling out in this respect the news agency's latest upgrade of their services to include webpages dedicated to stories in Portuguese, French, Russian, Chinese, Spanish and Urdu, as well as the pre-existing English and Arabic services. The more inclusive website is part of a drive to reach a wider readership - beyond the English and Arabic-speaking - to spread the UAE’s message of tolerance and moderation.

The minister expressed his country's full readiness to bolster media collaboration between the two friendly nations as per their respective local legislation, in order to establish full-fledged partnerships between their media organisations.

"WAM's launching of their new services in Portugal will definitely strengthen relations between the two peoples by providing a platform for both nations to exchange knowledge about one another, and ensure more access to their cultures and civilisations," said the minister.

"Portuguese, like Arabic, is one of the world's most widely spoken languages," added the minister, noting that there are 260 million persons speaking Portuguese in the world - an impressive frequency which, he said, is increasing and expected to hit 500 million by the end of the current century.

"Arabic and Portuguese are both time-honoured languages and should be more significantly promoted worldwide," he stressed.