Radio France Internationale (RFI) began broadcasting on FM in Kuwait today under an agreement between the two countries. The agreement, signed by Kuwait’s information ministry and RFI chief executive officer Antoine Schwarz, allows the radio station to broadcast around the clock in French and English. The signing coincided with the departure of Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah to France on a six-day official visit for talks with President Jacques Chirac.
Schwarz said that Kuwait has become the only Arab country to launch the RFI service, which will serve between 10,000 and 15,000 French speakers, including about 1,000 nationals of France, living in the Gulf state. It is the second French radio station to broadcast in Kuwait after Radio Monte Carlo that began its service in Arabic in May 2004.
The BBC and US-government’s radio Sawa both broadcast in Arabic to Kuwait, while the Voice of America and a couple of US army stations also air programmes in English.
(Source: AFP/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)