Sky News reporter and presenter Ashish Joshi is quitting the country. Swapping the cold shores of Britain for warmer climes, he is off to head Sky’s new foreign bureau in Dubai.

Plans to open a bureau in the gulf region had been under consideration since early 2008, and Sky News has now confirmed that it will open its doors in mid-late March 2009. Ashish has been named as the new correspondent and will be taking up his new role in March this year.

Based in Dubai’s Media City district, the new bureau will consist of two additional permanent members of staff working alongside Ashish – a producer and a cameraman. The new bureau in one of the fastest developing regions will bring the rosta of Sky News foreign bureaux to a total of eight.

A familiar face on British television, Ashish joined Sky News in 2004 after spending 10 years at the Asian broadcaster, ZEE TV, where he was Head of News and Current Affairs.

He said: “I am delighted to be taking on this new challenge in a region I know very well from my previous role as head of news with Zee TV. It is a fascinating, fast-paced, influential and sometimes fractious region of the world, where very different cultures live and work side by side, world business sits cheek by jowl with traditional fishing communities, and the rich and famous come to play without ever perhaps seeing the ‘real’ UAE.”

The award-winning television journalist and frontline reporter has covered many major news events including the 2004 Asian Tsunami, 2005 Kashmir earthquake, 7/7 London bombings, the Lebanon War, civil war in Sri Lanka, and covering the Madeleine McCann story.

Last year Ashish’s role was extended to newsroom anchor, delivering rolling news live from Sky’s London studios. He also won critical and public acclaim for his reporting of the Mumbai terror attacks in December 2008, and gaining exclusive access to knife offenders inside Britain’s jails to lead Sky News’ special coverage devoted to the issue.

Sky’s head of foreign news, Adrian Wells, said: “Opening a bureau in Dubai will strengthen Sky News’ ability to report on this fascinating, and ever more influential area. With the current financial crisis deepening every day amongst most of the world’s leading economies, the economy of the United Arab Emirates is one of very few examples of resilience.”

“This, coupled with current cultural shifts in the Middle East which have far reaching effects across the world, make it a compelling region to cover in more depth – this is a prefect time to cement our presence in the region.”

Along with the opening of the new Dubai bureau, the World News slot on Sky News will be extended by an extra hour, now showing from 3am-6am GMT. This will allow for an extra focus on the Middle East in line with breakfast viewing in the region, and there will be an enhanced focus on business news from the Middle East during this slot.