The Orient XXI newspaper was created in October 2013 by Alain Gresh, former editor of Le Monde diplomatique. It is dedicated to "the East" from Morocco to Afghanistan. It publishes one article per day in French, twice a week in Arabic and once in English. Its editorial board includes journalists and researchers, teachers and former diplomats.

Access to the newspaper is free. It has about 250,000 unique visitors per month. He regularly organizes conferences and debates on current topics, books and films.

Its goal is to facilitate the understanding of what is happening in this complicated East, to build bridges, to open dialogues, far from cautious retreats.

OrientXXI has developed a partnership with independent sites in the Arab world (Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, Syria, Tunisia, Jordan), a partnership that includes regular thematic meetings.