Islamabad, Pakistan: With a bouquet of analysts known in the fields of foreign affairs, economy, politics, and geo-economics and manned by weather-beaten professional anchors, state-run Pakistan Television broadcast over 50 hours of marathon coverage during the 23rd SCO Summit held in Islamabad.
During this transmission, PTV News and PTV World (the only English-language channel in Pakistan) covered SCO in all its dimensions, from providing live coverage of heads of government’s arrival at Noor Khan Air Base as well as the arrival of foreign guests at Islamabad International Airport.
According to foreign media delegations with whom DND News Agency contacted for comments, PTV also provided them clean feed (without tickers/voiceover) so they could use the footage for their respective channels in their countries. “It was exciting to see how your (Pakistani) state-run television provided us with time coverage for our televisions/video news agencies and we are impressed by the professionalism of your team”, said Juratbeg Akhalqnov, a Central Asian journalist.
It may be mentioned that over 1200 foreign delegates from SCO member states were present in Islamabad from October 14 to October 17, 2024, to attend the SCO Summit along with over 150 foreign media men.
It is pertinent to mention that SCO Summit was attended by the Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang, Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Tajik Prime Minister Kohir Rasulzoda, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, Kyrgyzstan’s Chairman of Ministers’ Cabinet Zhaparov Akylbek, Trade Minister of Iran Seyyed Mohammad Atabek, and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai and Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov.
When asked to comment, Managing Director PTV Sayyed Mubashar Tauqir Shah stated his team worked over 72 hours vigorously and tirelessly and most of the team members stayed inside the PTV building to make this event a success. He stated that broadcasting such a huge event was nevertheless a great challenge but also a prodigious opportunity to put the country in a global broadcasting arena and credit goes to the PTV team that, Sayyed considers a ‘family’. It may be mentioned that PTV had recently hired many new anchors from the private sector but already available professionals executed the SCO Summit marathon transmission while a new team would soon appear on the PTV screen.
