The presidium of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held its first meeting on Saturday afternoon at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Xi Jinping attended the meeting and delivered an important speech.

Presided over by Wang Huning, secretary-general of the congress, the meeting approved a list of 46 members of the standing committee of the presidium including Xi.

Subsequently, Xi presided over the meeting, which proceeded with other items on the agenda. Ding Xuexiang, Chen Xi, Guo Shengkun and Huang Kunming were approved as deputy secretaries-general of the congress.

A report on the examination of delegates' qualifications by the delegate credentials committee was adopted at the meeting.

According to the report, qualifications of 2,296 elected delegates to the congress were confirmed valid after examination.

The CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has placed great importance on the election of delegates, the report noted.

All primary-level Party organizations and up to 99.5 percent of more than 96 million Party members took part in the electoral process, it said.

The delegates are outstanding representatives of CPC members, representing a broad spectrum of Party members.

The report said the CPC Central Committee has invited 83 special delegates who enjoy equal rights as elected delegates.

A draft of the electoral methods of the 20th CPC National Congress was approved at the meeting. It will be deliberated by delegations.

The meeting also approved matters related to participants who will attend the congress in a non-voting capacity and invited guests.

It was decided at the meeting that the congress will run from Oct. 16 to 22.