Agenda set for China's parliamentary session

BEIJING - China's national legislators met in Beijing Friday to elect a presidium and set the agenda for the legislative session to open on Saturday.

A 170-member presidium was elected to take charge of the procedures of the Fourth Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), which is scheduled to be held from March 5 to 14.

Special Coverage: 2011 NPC & CPPCC

Related readings:  NPC deputy: China's seniors need better care   CPPCC convenes annual session in Beijing  Highlights of Jia Qinglin's CPPCC work report  NPC to convene annual session on Mar 5

According to the agenda adopted at the preparatory meeting, the NPC deputies will deliberate the government work report, examine and adopt the Outline of the 12th Five-Year Program on National Economic and Social Development.

Other reports to be heard and reviewed during the session include:

-- the plan for national economic and social development in 2011;

-- the central budget for 2011;

-- report on the work of the NPC Standing Committee;

-- report on the work of the Supreme People's Court;

-- report on the work of the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

More than 2,700 NPC deputies attended the preparatory meeting Friday. There are 2,979 deputies to the 11th NPC. As of Thursday, 2,959 NPC deputies had registered to the annual session.

The presidium also held its first meeting on Friday.

The deadline for NPC deputies to submit their bills is set before noon on March 9, according to a decision adopted at the meeting, presided over by NPC Standing Committee Chairman Wu Bangguo.

During the nine-and-half-day parliamentary session, three press conferences will be held at the Great Hall of the People, said Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for the Fourth Session of the 11th NPC, at a press conference Friday morning.

They will respectively touch on issues with regard to the Outline of the 12th Five-Year Program on National Economic and Social Development, China's foreign policy, and the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, he said.

Another 15 press conferences will be held at the media center of the parliamentary session, or the Media Center Hotel. They will focus on China's finance, foreign trade, social insurance, real estate, medical reform and environmental protection.

As tradition goes, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will give a press conference after the parliamentary session ends on March 14.