Paris - Egyptian telecoms and media magnate Naguib Sawiris, who is set to take a majority stake in Euronews, pledged Friday not to interfere in coverage by the pan-European TV news channel.
The channel, owned by nearly two dozen European public broadcasters, is in talks with Sawiris for a capital injection of 35 million euros ($39 million) that would give him a controlling 53 percent stake.
Euronews has been "very strong as a neutral channel, nothing will change in that," said Sawiris, whose fortune is estimated at $3.4 billion by the US business magazine Forbes.
Sawiris is the chief executive of Orascom TMT, which operates mobile telephone networks in a number of Middle Eastern and African countries plus Korea as well as underwater communications networks.
He also owns two Egyptian television channels plus a daily.
Sawiris said the development plans of the channel's management will make Euronews, which he said is already considered as a European CNN, a much more valuable company.
"It is a challenge to bring it to that level without trespassing on the (independent) mentality, that is in my opinion extremely important because it gives credibility to the channel."
AFP
