Present at the opening meeting were Hu Jintao and other leading cadres of the party and state of China and delegates.

Premier Wen Jiabao delivered a report on the work of the government.

In his report he reviewed the work in 2011 and stressed the need to strive for preserving social harmony and stability this year by implementing in depth the scientific outlook on development under the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

He set it as major tasks this year to promote a smooth and relatively rapid economic development, maintain basic stability of prices of goods, carry out the state strategy for development and the strategy for building a power in talents by dint of science and education and accelerate the great prosperity of culture.

Referring to the construction of national defence and army, he underscored the need to comprehensively push forward the revolutionization, modernization and regularization of the army and step up the ideological and political construction and consolidate the unity between the army and the government and the unity between army and people.

He noted that China will reinforce the foundation in political, economic, cultural and other fields for the development of cross-Strait relations and thus make further progress in promoting their peaceful development.

China will boost solidarity and cooperation with many developing countries, deepen the traditional friendship, steadfastly follow the road of peaceful development and maintain an independent and sovereign and peace-loving diplomatic policy, he concluded.