President Hu Jintao and other senior Chinese leaders respectively joined panel discussions of national legislators at the annual parliamentary session Saturday in Beijing.

Hu said he fully agreed with the government work report delivered Saturday by Premier Wen Jiabao at the opening meeting of the parliamentary session, which focused on scientific development.

China should accelerate the transformation of economic development pattern while cultivating new strategic advantage to serve the country's long-term development, Hu said while joining a panel discussion with national legislators from eastern Jiangsu Province.

While reviewing the government work report, a dozen deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) from Jiangsu shared their views on agricultural production, the protection of migrant workers' rights and interests, and social management.

Efforts should be made to improve the country's capability of independent innovation and to pursue a model of development propelled by scientific and technological progress, enhanced workforce skills and innovation in management, Hu said.

The president said the country should make sure that modernization in agriculture keeps pace with rapid industrialization and urbanization.

He also stressed the necessity of safeguarding and improving the people's well-being, and improving social management in a scientific way.

In addition, Hu praised the migrant workers for their contribution to the country's economic and social development.

While joining a panel discussion with the NPC delegation from central China's Anhui Province, top legislator Wu Bangguo called for greater efforts to curb the widening income gap between the rich and poor.

He said measures must be taken to increase the proportion of household income in the national income and the proportion that goes to wages and salaries in the primary distribution of the national income.

The reform of fiscal and tax system must be accelerated to make it more suitable for the transformation of the economic growth mode, said Wu,chairman of the NPC Standing Committee.