A press center for China's upcoming annual legislative and political consultative sessions opened on Tuesday.

The annual sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament, and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political advisory body, will open on March 5 and 3, respectively.

Located in the Media Center Hotel in downtown Beijing, the press center includes a press room, an interview room, an online interview room and a telecommunications room.

The press center will serve all registered correspondents from home and abroad and assist them with their work as it relates to the NPC and CPPCC sessions.

The press center's deputy director Zhu Shouchen said special columns have been launched on the official websites of the NPC and the CPPCC National Committee to assist correspondents in covering the events by publishing briefings from different delegations, as well as participants' proposals.

Agendas for the sessions, information on press conferences and other activities will be available at www.npc.gov.cn/pc/12_1 for the NPC session and http://www.cppcc.gov.cn/ for the CPPCC session, Zhu said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2013)