Media Prima

On a remarkable four occasions stretching between 1976 and 2000, Selim El-Hoss served as Prime Minister of Lebanon. The veteran statesman met our team at his home in Beirut, offering the unique perspective of internationally respected Arab statesman, his career included the tragic Lebanese Civil War and the post-conflict period as Lebanon reeled from repeated Israeli aggressions. Still a leading member of the anti-imperialist conference Axis for Peace, El-Hoss remains an influential voice on the regional stage yet was generous enough to find more than two hours for a frank and illuminating interview.

At a time when the West is increasingly at odds with Russia, the opportunity to sit down with President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine was an opportunity to take the pulse of a man who is increasingly at the centre of international politics in recent times. Second President of independent Ukraine from July 1994 to January 2005, a decade on from his incumbency, it is a sign of his continued relevance that he represented Ukraine at negotiations with the armed separatist in the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces in 2014 and as the troubles escalate remains a go-to guy for both sides of the increasingly fractious problems between Kiev and Moscow. Despite his busy schedule, Media Prima was granted an unprecedented two hours of face time with Kuchma at his official office in the Ukrainian capital.

One of the world's most progressive industry bodies, the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority will mark its 60th anniversary next year. In order to mark that occasion, we are proud to announce that the DCAA yesterday inked a deal commissioning Media Prima to produce a comprehensive history of the Authority, of aviation in Dubai, and the impact of the Emirate on civil aviation in the UAE and wider afield. The book is scheduled for release this November, to coincide with Dubai Airshow. HE Mohammed Ahli, Director General of DCAA, is pictured here signing an agreement, with officials from the Authority and Media Prima also in attendance.

Freedom fighter turned President, Eritrea's Isaias Afewerki hosted a team from Media Prima's Dubai HQ. The beautiful and little known East African nation of six million people, which borders the Red Sea and remains a bastion of peace in a troubled region, is led by the former Eritrean People's Liberation Front leader who struggled for independence for three long decades. He later swapped battle fatigues for the Presidential Palace, and has successfully steered his small nation through the myriad of instabilities that afflict the region and through the uncertainties that plague the Developing World. President since independence in 1993, Afewerki has seen it all and from his office in Asmara offered our team his forthright views on a wide-ranging range of domestic and international subjects.

Former Iranian President turned arch-critic of Tehran, President Seyyad Abolhassan Banisadr met with our team at his home in exile in Paris this week. President Banisadr is an Iranian politician, economist and human rights activist who, as an ally of Ayatollah Khomeini following the revolution, would become first President of Iran in the wake of the abolition of the monarchy. Prior to his presidency, he also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the interim government. Today an outspoken critic of the Clerical Oligarchy and over the question of democracy in Iran, President Banisadr lives in a heavily guarded home, a suburb of La Ville Lumière.