3. We improved our oversight methods, with the focus on getting better results.

Inquiries and interpellations are legal means by which the NPC oversees the State Council, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Last year, we focused our inquiries on the Central Government's final accounts, national food security, and deepening the reform of the pharmaceutical and healthcare systems. We conducted inquiries on these topics at a group meeting, joint group meeting and plenary meeting. These inquiries, which were reported or broadcast live on television and the Internet, attracted widespread attention and won a positive response from the general public, becoming a highlight of the NPC's oversight work. Members of the Standing Committee, relevant NPC special committees and working committees carried out careful investigations and studies and meticulously prepared in advance; the General Office of the Standing Committee strengthened organization, coordination and comprehensive arrangements; and main leaders of the relevant State Council departments solicited comments and realistically and truthfully answered inquiries at the meetings. There was a positive interaction between those who asked questions and those who answered them, thus ensuring the inquiries were successful. Inquiries on special topics have helped the State Council and its departments to improve their work, and also enriched the way the NPC does its oversight work.

Conducting investigations and studies on special topics has been an important way in which the Standing Committee has strengthened its oversight work over the past few years. Last year, we selected 14 topics on formulating the 12th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, carried out four-month-long investigations and studies on them and produced a number of insightful and valuable research reports. These reports have provided the central leadership with important reference materials for making policy decisions and for researching and working out the plan, and they have also made necessary preparations for this session to examine and approve the 12th Five-Year Plan. In accordance with the guiding principles of the Oversight Law and the Budget Law, we postponed the practice of hearing and deliberating the budget implementation in the first five months of the year in June and rescheduled the hearing for August when we focused on examining the availability and use of funds for expenditures on key areas such as agriculture, education, science and technology, culture, health and social security, as well as the transfer payments from the central to local governments, thereby making the NPC's budget oversight more effective.

III. Successfully Doing Routine Work While Focusing On the Central Tasks of the Standing Committee

1. Deputies played a bigger role.

The Standing Committee steadfastly took handling the proposals and suggestions of deputies as an important link in supporting deputies and ensuring they can exercise their duties in accordance with the law. Through the concerted efforts of all sides, we completed the handling of all 506 proposals made by deputies and referred to us by the Presidium of the Third Session of the 11th NPC. Seven laws mentioned in 71 proposals have been adopted by the Standing Committee; we are deliberating a draft law that was brought up in a proposal; and 41 legislative items set forth in 144 proposals have been included in annual or long-term legislative plans. Deputies made 7,590 suggestions, criticisms and comments, of which 76.7 percent have been resolved or there are plans for resolving them. We have strengthened follow-up oversight of the handling of deputies' suggestions to ensure they are dealt with. We have facilitated the resolution of a number of problems affecting the people's wellbeing, such as how to protect the ecology of grasslands and increase herdsmen's incomes, ensure safe drinking water in Xihaigu, Ningxia, and properly resettle people displaced for ecological reasons, and this work has been acknowledged by deputies. Over the past year, we held nine training sessions attended by over 1,900 deputies, organized more than 1,800 deputies to conduct research on special topics, and invited over 500 deputies to attend meetings of the Standing Committee and NPC special committees as non-voting observers and to participate in Standing Committee investigations in compliance with laws. Deputies who attended the meetings as non-voting observers and took part in other activities carefully prepared in advance, actively contributed to the discussions and fully reported the opinions of the people, thus playing an important role in improving the quality of the work of the Standing Committee.

2. We actively carried out foreign relations work.

We steadfastly complied with and served the country's overall diplomatic objectives, made the most of the characteristics and advantages of the NPC's foreign relations work, developed multilevel friendly contacts with congresses and parliaments of other countries in multiple areas, and made a positive contribution to promoting the overall development of relations between China and other countries. We made steady progress in exchanges with the congresses and parliaments of the United States, Russia and the Republic of Korea as well as the European Parliament under a mechanism of regular exchanges, launched exchanges based on a similar mechanism with the National Assembly of France, and maintained the continuity and stability of exchanges between the NPC and foreign congresses and parliaments concerned. We continued to play a constructive role in the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum, the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership Meeting and other international and regional parliamentary organizations. We actively took part in the preparations for the Third World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, and at the conference we elucidated China's viewpoints on major issues such as how to help attain the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and achieve the common development of humankind. We not only won the admiration of parliamentary leaders of developing countries, but also played an important role in the conference achieving practical results. We also expounded China's basic views on many occasions, so that the international community can more deeply comprehend China's basic situation and its adherence to scientific development and the path of peaceful development.

3. We strengthened self-improvement.

The Standing Committee continued to give top priority to ideological and political development; maintained the correct political orientation; and became ever more purposeful and resolute in upholding the leadership of the Party, adhering to the socialist system and keeping to the socialist political development path with Chinese characteristics. We diligently implemented the Party's line, principles and policies as well as its major decisions and arrangements. We maintained close ties with the people. We conscientiously held lectures on special topics and earnestly improved our ability to perform duties. We strengthened ties with standing committees of local people's congresses, learned from their good experiences in performing functions in accordance with the law, and worked with them to promote the development of our socialist democratic legal system. Taking into consideration the realities of their work and making use of their respective advantages, the special committees intensively carried out investigations and studies on special topics in various ways, made many good comments and suggestions, and played a very important role in raising the overall quality of the NPC's work and helping to improve the work of those we worked with. Bodies of the NPC actively carried out activities to encourage their Party members to excel in their work, strengthened the ranks of their cadres, and better played their role as collective advisers and assistants and service providers for deputies.

The achievements made by the Standing Committee last year are attributable to the industrious work of NPC deputies, members of the Standing Committee and the special committees, and employees of the NPC bodies under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Hu Jintao as General Secretary; to the concerted efforts of local people's congresses and their standing committees at all levels; to the cooperation of the State Council, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate; and to the full support of the people. On behalf of the Standing Committee, I would like to express my sincerest thanks to them all.

At the same time, we realize that our work needs to be improved in a number of areas. First, we need to further improve services to deputies that are essential for them to carry out their duties. Second, we need to more quickly revise laws, and enact accompanying regulations in particular. And third, we need to focus more on key areas in our oversight work. We need to pay close attention to these problems, listen with an open mind to comments from deputies and adopt effective measures to solve them.