BEIJING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A media training program was launched in Beijing on Tuesday to draw countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCI) closer, Wednesday's China Daily reported.

Hosted by the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs and Beijing Foreign Studies University, it was the first media exchange program of the SCI branch of the China Center for International News Exchange.

Twelve reporters from SCI member countries will travel around China and take courses covering the country in the three-month training program, according to the newspaper.

China will host the SCI summit this year in Qingdao, Shandong province.

"It is necessary that journalists from our neighboring countries meet and support each other and then play a fundamental role as cultural messengers in exchanges between SCI countries," Li Jinggang, deputy director of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs' information department, was quoted as saying.