Shanghai Ready for Upcoming SummitChina's economic powerhouse Shanghai is fully prepared for the sixth "Shanghai Five" summit scheduled for June 14-15, one of the most important events to be hosted this year.The Shangri-La Hotel, the International Conference Center and other venues of the summit have undergone fresh decoration and made detailed preparations to host the summit. To ensure the smooth going of the summit, the Shanghai municipal government has ordered for temporary traffic restrictions during the summit and decided to have Friday off for the public to reduce traffic pressure. Major newspapers and television stations in Shanghai have been running columns and programs in recent days offering the public background information about the summit. Local media widely held that the summit is of great significance and will mark a new development of the "Shanghai Five " mechanism. The "Shanghai Five" process was launched in April 1996, when presidents of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan held the first summit in Shanghai. The sixth summit has become a focus of media organizations from worldwide. According to the organizers, more than 400 journalists have registered to cover the summit, including over 200 from Russia, Kazakhstan, the United States and other foreign countries, and another 200 or so from China's mainland, Hong Kong and Taipei. Konstantin Sorokin, special correspondent of Russia's Interfax news agency, said his organization is paying high attention to the summit and its president has arrived in Shanghai to take part in the coverage. The summit will be a milestone in the history of the "Shanghai Five" as it will decide the direction of the process in the new century, Sorokin said, adding that he and his colleagues sincerely wish the full success of the summit. |
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