The Fifth Session of the Tenth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is slated to open on Saturday afternoon in the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing and will last 12 days, Wu Jianmin, spokesman for the session, said Friday.

The conference is due to end on the morning of March 15, Wu said at a press conference.

Jia Qinglin, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, will deliver a report on the work of the CPPCC National Committee's Standing Committee over the past year, while Huang Mengfu, vice chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, will report how the suggestions and proposals from CPPCC members were handled since the previous session, said Wu.

More than 2,200 CPPCC National Committee members, coming throughout the country, are expected to discuss the report on government work delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao, reports on the work of the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the drafts of property right law and corporate income tax law.

Three plenary meetings focusing on economic, social and cultural, and political and CPPCC themes will be held during the session. Chinese and foreign journalists will be allowed to cover the speeches at the plenary meetings, as well as the opening and closing meetings of the session.

Two press conferences and a joint interview will be arranged for Chinese and foreign journalists, focusing on modern agriculture, the construction of new countryside, aging population, and the protection of ancient Grand Canal from Beijing to Hangzhou in east China. Some CPPCC members will be invited to answer questions raised by reporters.

While answering a question raised by an overseas reporter on Vice Premier Huang Ju's health condition after the press conference, the spokesman said Huang would attend some activities of the session of the CPPCC National Committee and the annual session of the National People's Congress this year.

Huang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, was absent from last year's NPC and CPPCC sessions due to health reasons.

Source: Xinhua