Just in time for its meetings in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the World Bank has launched an Arabic-language Web site. You can visit the site at: www.albankaldawli.org (Note the localized URL).

According to the press release, more than "100 web pages should be available in Arabic for the new site by next month. These will highlight the World Bank’s partnerships in the region, learning initiatives, publications and research reports in Arabic, as well as project stories from Egypt, Iran, Morocco, Tunisia, West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen."

The World Bank has more than $4 billion invested in the region so it's nice to see the organization spending a few thousand dollars on a Web site for the region. While I applaud their efforts, this site should have been live years ago. Based on a study I conducted recently of all the world's major languages, Arabic clearly is most overlooked by major international companies and organizations. That's a shame. Arabic has more than 200 million speakers around the world, who increasingly have access to the Internet. I hope the World Bank is a sign of things to come...