Dubai: The YouTube channel of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has attracted great interest locally and internationally. Thousands of visitors logged on within hours of the channel's launch.
Tens of thousands of YouTube users inside the UAE and abroad are viewing video footage of Shaikh Mohammad's daily visits and tours. Congratulatory messages on the channel's launch are being posted on Twitter and Facebook.
The news of the launch was also circulated through SMS.
A number of international news agencies contributed to the channel's popularity, driving up the visits to the website. MSN News called it a first of its kind channel launched by a head of government in the Arab world.
Yahoo! news also wrote about the launch and included a direct link to the channel.
The comments posted varied from congratulatory messages to notes of appreciation towards Shaikh Mohammad's personality and his ability to take important initiatives at all times as a model of what a modern and enlightened leader should be like.
At the same time, the channel's email address, mbrvideos@gmail.com, received hundreds of emails attached with video footage taken during Shaikh Mohammad's visit to different locations. Those footages will be displayed later on and will be attributed to the contributors after checking them for technical quality.
Social events
The videos covered Shaikh Mohammad's participation in social events, his poetry recitals, and meetings with poets. Many of the video segments had never been aired on television.
The channel underlines Shaikh Mohammad's "growing interest in adapting modern technologies to consolidate direct interaction with society", and he is also one of the most keen world leaders in making use of modern technologies for direct interaction between leaders and their people.
Portal launched
Shaikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler's Representative in the Western Region, yesterday launched the Western Region's official portal.
The initiative comes as part of Shaikh Hamdan's efforts to enhance communication between the people of the Western Region and the competent authorities.
Launching the portal, Shaikh Hamdan stressed the importance of empowering and equipping government agencies and stake-holders through electronic communication. This will become the bridge for effective relations between the people, both citizens and residents, and the government authorities, Shaikh Hamdan added.
