The media center of the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization Qingdao Summit was put into use on Wednesday.

More than 2,500 domestic and foreign reporters are expected to arrive at the coastal city in Shandong province to cover the summit scheduled for June 9 and 10.

Leaders of SCO member and observer states as well as heads of various international organizations will attend the gathering.

"We wanted the media center to be set up as economically and environmentally friendly as possible, so we've transformed Haier Global Creative Research Center into the media center, which is committed to delivering top services to reporters," Liu Yutong, deputy director of the media center, said on Wednesday.

The research center overlooking the Yellow Sea is also known as the "Tip of the Iceberg" and has become a new landmark in Qingdao.

Reporters can broadcast live from its roof with either a sea or city view as background.

The media center provides reporters with computers with operating systems in Chinese, English and Russian as well as stable, high-speed internet connections.

It has three news conference halls, the largest of which can hold about 270 reporters. Also, a variety of performances showcasing Chinese culture will be held at the garden at the center of media center's ground floor.

Volunteers, staff members and robots will be there to serve the reporters. As soon as reporters step into the center's main entrance, they will be greeted by Liu Liu, a robot that can provide information about the center in Chinese, English and Russian and lead the reporters to where they want to go.

They will also see Hai Hai, a security robot that will patrol the venue 24 hours a day. Both robots were made in Qingdao.

This will be the first SCO Summit since India and Pakistan were accepted as full members in June 2017.

The Qingdao summit will be chaired by President Xi Jinping. The Qingdao Declaration will be issued at the summit.

Contact the writers at cuijia@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/07/2018 page3)