18 July 2024
The second meeting of the Arab negotiating team with international media companies, organized by the League of Arab States, was launched in Riyadh.
The three-day meeting aims to formulate a unified and harmonious negotiating vision with major international media companies regarding the financial dimension, in implementation of Resolution No. (533) issued by the (53) session of the Council of Arab Information Ministers held in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, in June 2023, which stipulated working to quickly activate a mechanism to impose and apply the digital tax on these companies with a minimum of 15 percent to benefit from the revenues they generate in the Arab region, and from sales and advertisements.
In this context, Ambassador Ahmed Rashid Khattabi, Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Media and Communication Sector at the League of Arab States, stated in his speech during the meeting that this negotiating vision of the Arab team aims to protect Arab media content, and at its core is defending the justice of the Palestinian cause in its various dimensions, including its media dimension and protecting Palestinian digital rights in light of the unfair practices against journalists, bloggers and influencers, including restrictions, deletion, blocking and prevention, pointing to the exacerbation of these practices with the continuation of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the repeated incursions into the West Bank.
“We are required to make a creative effort to implement this strategic direction, which embodies a strong and clear collective will to confidently engage in the knowledge and communication society, protect Arab digital interests, and combat the discourse of terrorism, hatred, and discrimination in order to preserve our spiritual, moral, cultural, and societal values,” he said, noting the commendable work of the Arab negotiating team with international media companies, and the seriousness and responsibility it showed in developing important recommendations during the first meeting held in the Jordanian capital, Amman, late last August, which contributed to reaching an advanced stage in preparation for launching this negotiation process.
The Assistant Secretary-General of the League of Arab States pointed out that these recommendations remain the result of constructive observations and proposals of member states and their keenness to enrich the valuable ground provided by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Arab Broadcasting Union on how to deal with international media companies with a view to anticipating a fair, secure and balanced contractual framework, drawing on similar regional models, especially the European Union’s experience with the issuance of the European Digital Services Act.
He also expressed his hope that the recommendations of this meeting would be a qualitative and supportive step for the joint Arab media work process, noting the importance of the discussions in advancing efforts aimed at establishing an effective Arab negotiating position in dealing with international media companies.
The Arab negotiation team with international media companies includes senior media experts from a number of Arab countries, the media and communications sector (the Technical Secretariat of the Council of Arab Information Ministers), and the Arab States Broadcasting Union.