CPPCC Concludes Annual Session

The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body, began the closing ceremony of its annual session in Beijing Saturday morning, March 13, 2010.

Jia Qinglin, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, presided over the closing ceremony.

Top Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Hu Jintao, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang were present at the ceremony.

The meeting elected Edmund Ho Hau Wah, former chief executive of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), as Vice Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, with 2,057 of the 2,113 political advisors present at the meeting voting for him.

It also adopted the work report of the Standing Committee of the 11th CPPCC National Committee over the past year, and the report on how suggestions and proposals from CPPCC members were handled since the last session.

By 2 p.m. on March 7, a total of 1,987 members of the 11th CPPCC National Committee had submitted 5,430 proposals on China's economic, political, cultural and social development, and environmental protection, among other issues.

According to the report on the handling of proposals, the political advisors attached great importance to China's economic development, people's well-being, and the country's social harmony and stability.

They raised 836 proposals on accelerating the transformation of China's economic growth pattern and its economic restructuring, 489 on strengthening and improving macro control of the economy, 338 on coordination of regional economy, and 506 on farmers and agricultural and rural development.

Their proposals also included 510 on education and science, 160 on cultural development, 367 on medical services, 200 on employment and social security, 438 on housing, 514 on social harmony, 182 on social stability, 204 on promoting democracy and 166 on judicial justice.

The political advisors also provided suggestions on the development of relations across the Taiwan Strait, the hosting of the Shanghai World Expo, education to further raise public awareness, and on the improvement of the CPPCC's work, the report said.

It said the Committee for Handling Proposals of the CPPCC National Committee had called two special meetings during the 11-day annual session, focusing on the development of strategic emerging industries, and on narrowing the income gap among the people.

Officials from key government departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission, joined discussions with the political advisors about how to handle the proposals at the two meetings.

According to the report, the CPPCC National Committee will hold a meeting on March 30, during which the proposals will be transferred to 168 government departments and units for further handling.

The 11th CPPCC National Committee currently has 2,237 members, and 2,113 of them attended the closing meeting of the annual session that kicked off on March 3.

The CPPCC is a patriotic united front organization of the Chinese people, serving as a key mechanism for multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and a major manifestation of socialist democracy.

Members of the CPPCC are representatives of the CPC and non-Communist parties, personages without party affiliation, and representatives of people's organizations, ethnic minorities and various social strata.

The CPPCC also has the representation of compatriots of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, returned overseas Chinese, and specially invited people.

(Source: Xinhua)