The 12th National People's Congress of China convened its first session.

On the morning of March 5, the first session of the 12th National People's Congress of China officially opened at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing with the participation of nearly 3,000 National Assembly deputies, senior leaders of the Party and State including General Secretary Xi Jinping, President Hu Jintao, National Assembly Chairman Wu Bangguo, Premier Wen Jiabao, Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin and many other senior leaders.

This session of the National Assembly is of special importance because National Assembly deputies will elect key leadership positions including the President and Vice President, Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers, State Councilor and government members, and approve the government restructuring plan.

Scene of the opening ceremony. (Source: Xinhua)

At the opening session, Premier Wen Jiabao read the government's work report, emphasizing that China will continue to implement "active fiscal policy" and "prudent monetary policy" to achieve the 2013 economic growth target of 7.5%, control inflation at around 3.5%, create more than 9 million new jobs in urban areas and maintain the urban unemployment rate below 4.6%.

The Chinese government will also strive to ensure that per capita income increases along with the country's economic growth.

On the budget front, the report set a deficit target of 1.2 trillion yuan ($191 billion) in 2013, 400 billion yuan higher than last year.

The report said that the budget deficit and public debt should be appropriately increased because the gap between previous tax cuts makes it difficult for government revenue to increase rapidly this year, while public spending will increase. The increased spending will be used to ensure and improve people's lives, maintain support for economic growth and make structural adjustments.

On the defense front, the report said China plans to increase its 2013 defense budget by 10.7 percent to 720.2 billion yuan ($114.3 billion). Last year, China's defense budget was 650.6 billion yuan, up 11.6 percent from the previous year.

The report emphasized that 2013 is the first year of implementing the Resolution of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a year of great significance in continuing to implement the 12th Five-Year Plan and laying a solid foundation for completing the goal of building a well-off society in all respects.

The first session of the 12th National People's Congress of China will last until March 17./.

According to (TTXVN) - DT