Chinese lawmakers gathered Wednesday morning in Beijing to elect a presidium and set the agenda for the legislative session slated to start Thursday.

Wu Bangguo, chairman of the 11th NPC Standing Committee and secretary of its Leading Party Members' Group, presides over the meeting.

The parliamentary session is expected to yield further measures to stimulate economy and combat crisis as the impact of the worldwide financial downturn further unfolds.

A 171-member presidium and secretary-general were elected to take charge of the procedures of the Second Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), which is scheduled to last nine days.

The new presidium is composed of senior officials of the Communist Party of China (CPC), non-Communist parties, All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, personages without party affiliation, people of government agencies and people's organizations, leading members of all the 35 delegations to the NPC session including those from Hong Kong and Macao and the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

Wang Zhaoguo was elected secretary-general of the NPC session.

Former Party chief of the Ministry of Health Gao Qiang was also elected to the presidium following his appointment as vice chairman of the NPC Financial and Economic Committee and director of the NPC Standing Committee's Budgetary Affairs Commission on Saturday.