The commitment was made at the First Plenary of the 10th Session of the Beijing Municipal People's Political Consultative Conference (BMPPCC).

Huang Yiyun, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the ninth session, said that members of the BMPPCC would help the municipal government to listen to different opinions before making important decisions.

He told the session: "While conducting political consultation and democratic supervision, the members should speak their minds on the capital's various affairs, based on thorough investigation and research."

Beijing Mayor Liu Qi hailed the contribution made by the BMPPCC.

He told members yesterday: "The city's work in financial budgeting, environmental protection, education and public security has been significantly improved thanks to suggestions and supervision from the BMPPCC."

He added: "The BMPPCC has been a great help for us to make rational decisions and correct some of our mistakes in the city's social and economic development."

In the ninth session (1998-2002), BMPPCC members put forward 6,492 proposals, concerning the capital city's political and economic affairs, social insurance system, development of information technology, ethnic and religious affairs, urban construction and management.

After careful examination, 6,212 proposals were registered and sent to government departments, which answered and handled 99.7 percent of the total registered proposals.

In the past five years, more than 200 members of BMPPCC were invited to serve as special supervisors by municipal government departments and judicial departments, monitoring the drive to fight against corruption of officials and judicial personnel.

According to China's Constitution, the People's Political Consultative Conference is a major organization within the system of multi-party co-operation and consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

The new session of the BMPPCC has gathered 720 members, among whom 74 percent of them, or 534, have received a higher education, and 219 among them have either master degrees or doctorates.

Nearly half of them are scientists, engineers, educational experts, private entrepreneurs and artists from different circles as well as members of the eight non-Communist parties.

During the 7-day meeting, the members will elect a new BMPPCC leadership.

(China Daily January 13, 2003)