President Hu Jintao, top legislator Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao joined lawmakers from all over the country in group discussions on Wednesday, calling for hard work to boost economic and social development and build a harmonious society.

The 10th National People's Congress (NPC),  the Chinese legislature, is holding its annual full session in Beijing, bringing together more than 2,900 lawmakers.

"We shall seize opportunities to readjust economic structure and change the mode of economic growth to improve economic efficiency," Hu, also general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said while exchanging views with NPC deputies from Heilongjiang Province, an old industrial base in the northeast.

Hu said it is imperative to build an industrial structure with the high-tech sector acting as a leading driving force, where the traditional manufacturing and tertiary sectors should enjoy overall development.

During the discussions with legislators from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Wu Bangguo, chairman of the 10th NPC Standing Committee, said that to build a new countryside is a task of historical significance. "We shall make all efforts to increase rural people's income," Wu said.

"We shall carry out the policies of equality, unity, mutual assistance and common prosperity in various ethnic groups," said Premier Wen Jiabao in his discussions together with deputies from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

"We will make it a priority to shore up the development of areas inhabited by people of ethnic minorities," the premier said.

Vice President Zeng Qinghong, and senior Communist Party officials Wu Guanzheng, Li Changchun and Luo Gan joined the discussions of lawmakers from Sichuan, Henan, Hunan and Qinghai provinces, talking about issues concerning countryside development, anti-corruption, cultural development and social stability.

All of them are members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2006)