The Fifth Session of the Tenth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) started in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Saturday afternoon.

A total of 2,144 CPPCC National Committee members will underline major concerns of the nation's development during the 12- day annual meeting.

Top Party and state leaders Hu Jintao, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Zeng Qinghong, Wu Guanzheng, Li Changchun and Luo Gan were present when the session opened at 3 p.m. (Beijing time).

CPPCC National Committee Chairman Jia Qinglin delivered a keynote report.

Founded in 1949, the CPPCC consists of elite members of the Chinese society who are willing to serve as the think tank for the government and for the country's legislative and judicial organs.

As an open forum where the ruling Communist Party, the non- Communist parties of China and people with no party affiliations discuss state affairs freely and on an equal footing, the CPPCC National Committee has been the manifestation of China's socialist democracy.

NPC, CPPCC sessions extended by two more days

China will see two of its most important political bodies extend their annual sessions this year to discuss issues about general welfare and the nation's draft law on property rights.

Both the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a national political advisory body, have released the agendas for their 2007 annual sessions. Both will hold two more days of meetings than they did last year.

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The CPPCC National Committee full session, which starts on Saturday and ends on March 15, will also discuss the two draft laws.

Except for these special agendas, it is expected that NPC deputies and CPPCC members will deliver more proposals and have longer discussions, because this year's meetings are the last sessions of the 10th NPC and 10th CPPCC.

In another development, according to CPPCC spokesman Wu Jianmin at a press conference on Friday, the country's political advisers have been devoting much of their time investigating and writing policy proposals on issues on the people's livelihood last year.

"It has always been an important responsibility of the CPPCC to collect and reflect real social conditions and public voices, as its members come from all walks of life," Wu said.

For example, the number of proposals related to health and education alone reached more than 900, accounting for one-fifth of the total number of proposals submitted in the past year, Wu said.

In response to the proposals calling for solving the housing problems for low-income households, the Ministry of Construction has announced it would establish a low-rent system in all cities and counties of the country by the end of this year to ensure the housing of the poor.

Another issue that has caught the attention of CPPCC members is the establishment of a social security system that will cover the country's vast rural population.

"The CPPCC members have concluded that the time is ripe to establish the basic living allowance system for the 23.7 million poor population in the countryside," Wu said.

The system can be established if finance departments spend 6 billion yuan ($750 million) each year, Wu said.

The State Council and related departments have adopted the proposal, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs has decided to promote the system across the country after the success of some pilot projects.

Another example of the role of the CPPCC is that after taking suggestions by CPPCC members, the National Development and Reform Commission decided that the ticket prices of railway and road transportation would remain the same as usual during this year's Spring Festival holiday.

Ticket prices used to be floated to a certain percentage before to cover costs because of the sudden increase in transportation capacity to carry the country's vast floating population home and back after the holidays.

"The cancellation of the price increase has reduced 300 million yuan ($37 million) in revenue, but it has benefited the majority, especially the rural migrant workers," Wu said.

Wu is a senior diplomat and served as spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the 1980s and Chinese Ambassador to Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and later France in the 1990s, before he became president of the China Foreign Affairs University and Vice-Director of the Committee of Foreign Affairs under the CPPCC in 2003.