China concludes annual parliamentary session (4)

BEIJING, March 13 -- The National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliamentary body, began the closing meeting of its annual session Thursday morning.

The session was an event where the lawmakers reached consensus, defined major missions and strengthened confidence on the country's development, said Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, in his address at the closing meeting of the session.

At the session, the NPC deputies examined and approved a number of important documents, including the government work report, the national economic and social development plan and the central budget.

They also endorsed the work reports of the NPC Standing Committee, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

The lawmakers approved the resignations of two NPC Standing Committee members at the closing meeting.

Chen Sixi and Wang Xiao resigned from the Standing Committee in May and June last year after Chen was appointed as deputy director of the central government's liaison office in Macao, and Wang took the post of deputy governor of northwest China's Qinghai Province.

According to the NPC rules, NPC Standing Committee members, elected from NPC deputies, are not allowed to take posts in governments, courts and procuratorates.

The NPC Standing Committee accepted their resignations in June and submitted them to the full session for final confirmation.