A training program for young journalists, organized by the World Media Summit (WMS) secretariat members, opened in Beijing Monday.

Eleven Asian and African journalists with media organizations such as Kenya News Agency, Cameroon News and Publishing Corporation, and Berita National Malaysia will participate in the five-day training program.

Senior professionals from Xinhua News Agency, Reuters, AP, Itar-Tass, BBC, CNN, News Corporation, and Al Jazeera -- members of the WMS secretariat -- will give lectures.

Zhou Zongmin, secretary-general of the WMS secretariat, briefed the audience on the functions of the secretariat and Xinhua's progress on its strategic transformation to provide the world with muiltimedia services.

Itar-Tass's Beijing Bureau chief Andrey Kirillov described the program as necessary and timely.

Many journalists told Xinhua it was their first trip to China and first experience of such training program.

The program would provide journalists from developing nations a better understanding of China's progress since its opening to the outside world in 1979, and a platform for future exchanges.

The courses would focus mainly on changes facing news reporters in the new media era, digital news, and objectivity in news reporting.

The journalists would also have the chance to gain a closer look at the the post-earthquake reconstruction efforts in Sichuan Province and visit the Binhai New Area in the coastal city of Tianjin.

About 300 representatives of 170 worldwide media organizations attended the WMS in Beijing in October last year.

The summit was intended to promote transparency and accountability in governments and public institutions, and facilitate mutual understanding among peoples of different countries and regions. The training program was one of the summit's accomplishments.