The work on the gala Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad is to move from the drawing board to implementation and rehearsal "stage".

So says the 85th Executive Board meeting of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) held Thursday afternoon.

The meeting was chaired by Liu Qi, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and President of BOCOG.

Also present at the meeting was Chen Zhili, State Councilor and BOCOG First Vice-President.

Board members received a report on the progress of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. To date, work on ceremonies for the Olympic and the Paralympic Games of 2008 have made solid progress. Evaluations of the initial storyboards are done and the ceremonies team selected. Technical production plans are basically finished.

The board also heard reports on the preparations for the "Good Luck Beijing" sports events.

With the conclusion of the 2007 International Women's Football Tournament -- the first event held in Qinhuangdao and Shenyang, preparations for other sports events slated for this summer are still under way.

Competition rules and schedules for all the events, including the daily schedule, have been set and registration for each event has started and is being promoted on the official website of the "Good Luck Beijing" sports events.

Each of the 21 Beijing-based venues that will undertake this year's events, along with the venues outside Beijing, will be finished and fully operational prior to each event.

The Beijing Olympic Security Command Center is now on-line and fully engaged in security for each event, mapping out detailed plans to guarantee the safety of all athletics, officials and fans.

(BOCOG July 13, 2007)