People in Astana welcome Xi's visit

A host of Chinese and Kazakh people extended their warm welcome to visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazakhstan's capital Astana on Tuesday.

Xi arrived in Astana on Tuesday noon local time to attend the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and pay a state visit to the central Asian nation.

The overseas Chinese and Chinese students studying in the country had gathered outside of the Astana International Airport before Xi's arrival, waving national flags of China and Kazakhstan to welcome him.

At the airport, a group of local children sang a Chinese song "Ode to the Motherland", a choreographed arrangement to welcome Xi.

Government officials and representatives of major media organizations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states attended a roundtable meeting on Wednesday in Astana, Kazakhstan, ahead of the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO.

Hosted by the China Media Group (CMG), the meeting was held under the theme of pulling together the media power and carrying forward the Shanghai Spirit. Attendees summarized what China and other SCO members have achieved in media cooperation and sought deeper cooperation for the future.

Shen Haixiong, president of the CMG, said mass media organizations should deepen cooperation and jointly promote exchanges and mutual learning by telling stories of people-to-people ties among SCO members and creating a fair, objective and healthy global public opinion ecology.

Shen said the CMG is willing to make joint efforts with the mass media outlets of SCO member countries to take the Astana roundtable meeting as an opportunity to push the development of the SCO to a new level.

Kanat Iskakov, Kazakh vice minister of culture and information, drew attention to the key role of mass media in strengthening mutual trust, friendship and good neighborliness. He hoped that through this dialogue, mass media organizations of the SCO member states could establish closer cooperative relations.

Andrey Denisov, the first deputy chair of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, said SCO member states should strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various fields and build a more just, reasonable, diversified and inclusive space for international public opinion in the current international environment.

Other representatives of major mass media organizations from the SCO member states also shared their insights on how best to strengthen exchanges and cooperation.

Bolat Nurgaliyev, a former SCO Secretary-General, said media outlets should strive to create a cultural atmosphere and environment of mutual understanding, mutual respect and mutual appreciation.

According to another former SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov, over 180 events dedicated to various sectors have been held during Kazakhstan's presidency of the SCO, and he suggested that a media union of the SCO countries could be established to strengthen technical cooperation.

At the event, an initiative to deepen pragmatic cooperation between the CMG and SCO mass media outlets was launched. According to the initiative, mass media should deepen cooperation, strengthen mutual training and share best practices.

Founded in Shanghai back in 2001, the SCO is a trans-regional organization comprised of nine full members, three observer countries, and 14 dialogue partners, which covers over 60 percent of the Eurasian landmass and nearly half of the world's population.