The First Media Forum of the SCO Family countries opened at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on 1 June 2018 at the initiative of the Information Office of the State Council of China.

"The establishment of this format of interaction has been pending due to many factors," SCO Secretary-General Rashid Alimov said.

He said the media forum was a good venue for establishing direct ties between journalists, for exchanging professional experience and for coordinating collective ideas and interesting media projects.

"We need this forum to improve the knowledge of the ongoing and nascent processes in the vast SCO space, which now extends from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean and from the Pacific to the Baltic Sea. The provision of full, honest and meaningful information about the SCO's multifaceted activities is extremely important in the currently complicated international situation," Rashid Alimov said, adding that there are some 4.5 million registered media outlets in the SCO space.

The SCO Secretary-General expressed hope that the forum participants from all spheres of journalism would continue working to create an objective picture of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and cited a Chinese proverb, "A word can set heaven in motion," to emphasise his point.

"Information on the SCO will help people learn more about our organisation, which was established 17 years ago for the people and in the interests of the people," Rashid Alimov said.

The First SCO Media Forum is being attended by some 300 media representatives from the SCO Family countries, including members of the SCO ministries and agencies in charge of the media, delegates from international news agencies such as China's Xinhua, Russia's TASS, the Press Trust of India and other leading media outlets from the SCO countries, as well as prominent journalists and diplomats.