Beijing, 8 October (AKI/Xinhua) - Giuseppe Marra, president of Italy's Adnkronos Group has praised the first World Media Summit taking place in Beijing from Thursday, saying the summit will provide a platform for cooperation and exchanges between world media.

Marra made the remarks while meeting with vice-president of Xinhua News Agency Zhou Xisheng.

Xinhua and and eight other renowned media organizations including News Corporation, AP, Reuters, ITAR-TASS, Kyodo News, BBC, Turner Broadcasting System and Google Inc. will jointly launch the World Media Summit on Oct 8-10.

The three-day event, being held under the theme of "Cooperation, Action, Win-Win and Development", has attracted representatives from more than 170 media organisations worldwide, including 130 from overseas.

"We are in close relationship with Xinhua, and will continue to expand cooperation with Xinhua in other fields," said Marra.

Zhou said the Adnkronos Group has influence in the Mediterranean region as well as Italy, and its presence at the summit will bring experience to share with other world media.