It was drizzling from the morning of March 3. At 2 p.m., 2,144 members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee stepped into the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, with joys on the face.

At 3 p.m., the Fifth Session of the 10th CPPCC National Committee officially began. In the next 12 days, these members would deliberate state affairs together here and put forward proposals concerning important issues of national policy.

Jia Qinglin, Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee delivered the keynote report on the work of the Standing Committee in the past year and its work scheme in 2007.

"The year of 2007 is of great importance for the causes of our Party and the whole country, as the 17th CPC National Congress is scheduled to convene in the second half of this year, which is not only a big event for the Party itself, but also for the political life of all the people," said Jia.

Jia urged CPPCC members to "welcome the successful convening of the CPC National Congress by earnestly performing our duty in political consultation, democratic supervision and participation in and discussion of state affairs with a great sense of political responsibility."

Jia said that CPPCC members should be prepared to learn and implement the spirit of the CPC congress and make contribution to accomplish the goals raised at the congress.

The CPPCC should fully play its role to promote the harmonious relations between different parties, nationalities, religions, social classes and compatriots from both home and overseas, said Jia.

He said the advisors' proposals on improving social equality, morality, stability and maintaining harmony between human beings and the nature over the previous year have contributed to the country's drive of building a harmonious society.

The CPPCC should strengthen its contact with the compatriots in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and those living abroad to maintain the long-term prosperity in Hong Kong and Macao, to push forward the peaceful and stable development of the cross-Strait relations and to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, he said.

Huang Mengfu, Vice Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, reported to the advisors at the opening meeting on how their proposals and suggestions had been handled since the advisory body's last session in March 2006.

The political consultants have raised 5,158 proposals on economy, science, culture and sports, politics and social security issues since last March, and over 98 percent have received response from relative departments or have been handled in line with China's laws and regulations, according to Huang.

More than 2,000 CPPCC National Committee members will underline major concerns of the nation during the 12-day meeting.