The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, concluded its week-long meeting on Saturday, with approval of the amendments of the Earthquake Prevention Law and the Patent Law.

President Hu Jintao has signed on the two amendments for them to take effect.

The session was presided by Wu Bangguo, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee and member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau.

A resolution was adopted at the meeting, deciding that the Second Session of the Eleventh NPC will be inaugurated in Beijing on March 5, 2009.

The top legislature also approved a multilateral treaty signed by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states on joint military drills and a bilateral treaty of judicial cooperation on criminal cases with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Wu made a speech after the completion of all the procedural issues, saying that NPC deputies and members of the NPC Standing Committee and its special committee have paid great attention to the country's economic situation since September.

As a result, the session held an additional hearing on a State Council report on taking pro-active measures to deal with the global financial crisis and ensure a stable and relatively fast economic growth, according to the top legislator.

He spoke highly of the Party Central Committee's timely decisions to readjust the country's macro-economic control policy, by changing the primary job to maintaining a stable and relatively fast economic growth and bringing the economic growth under control to prevent an excessive inflation, from the prevention of excessive economic growth and a remarked inflation, a goal set at the beginning of this year.

The top lawmaker hailed the country's success in 2008 in fighting natural disasters, hosting the Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympics, projecting the Shenzhou-7 manned spacecraft, achieving its economic, environmental and agricultural goals, and having people's life further improved and keeping the general situation stable. He praised the State Council and local governments for their efforts to achieve these goals.

In his speech, the top legislator analyzed the international and domestic situation, and he warned that while carrying out a pro-active financial policy, substantial efforts must be made to prevent low-level and overlapped construction and a new round of urban expansion.

(Xinhua News Agency December 28, 2008)