A plenary session of the eighth meeting of the Standing committee of the 10th National Committee of China's top political advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), heard work reports from its special committees Saturday.

The 2004 work reports were delivered by heads of eight special committees and focused on economic affairs, population and environmental protection, education, scientific and cultural affairs, social and legal affairs and ethnic and religious affairs at the session attended by Jia Qinglin, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee.

The special committees put promoting development at the top of their agenda after the previous session. They conducted extensive research on major economic and social issues before putting forward views and suggestions, which the plenary session agreed "had made positive contributions to the building of a well-off society in an all-round way."

Sixty-eight research reports on topics such as food security, coordinated urban-rural development and reform of the income distribution system have been created and provided to central authorities, becoming important reference materials for the country's policy makers, according to sources with the meeting.

(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2005)