Jiang Zemin attended the meeting and delivered an important speech.

Presided over by Hu Jintao, secretary-general of the congress, the meeting first approved a list of the presidium's 32-member Standing Committee including Jiang Zemin.

Afterwards, presided over by Jiang Zemin, the meeting went through items on the agenda. Ding Guangen, Luo Gan, Zeng Qinghong and Wang Gang were approved as deputy secretaries-general of the congress.

The meeting then approved a report on the examination of delegates' qualification by the credentials committee.

According to the report, the CPC Central Committee decided that the number of delegates to the 16th Party Congress be 2,120 from various electoral units. After the delegates were elected, two died of illness, and another four gave up or were rescinded of their delegate's qualifications owing to having committed serious mistakes. The actual number of delegates now is 2,114.

The report said that elections of the delegates had been conducted under the principles of democratic centralism and giving full play to inner-Party democracy, and that elections were carried out smoothly.

Elections in all electoral units were carried out in strict accordance with procedures determined by the CPC Central Committee, the report said, adding that over 98 percent of grassroots Communist Party organizations, and over 93 percent of Party members took part in the elections.

All electoral units conducted serious investigations about the political qualifications, ethics, work achievements and honest and clean work style of candidates. Afterwards, the electoral units organized multi-candidate elections to choose final delegates.

The delegates elected are ideologically advanced and highly representative, the report said, stressing that they firmly believe in communism and in socialism with Chinese characteristics. They have been studying and practicing the theory of "Three Represents" and have made remarkable contributions to the country's reforms, opening-up and socialist modernization drive.

The report quoted the credentials committee as saying that the election of all 2,114 delegates to the 16th CPC National Congress conforms with relevant procedures determined by the Party Central Committee, hence the qualifications of the delegates are valid.

As was the case with the 15th National Congress of the Party, the CPC Central Committee specially invited 40 delegates to the 16th Party Congress, and they enjoy equal rights as elected delegates.

A draft electoral method of the congress was approved at the meeting and was handed over to each delegation for deliberations.

Items concerning the attendance of observers and guests at the congress were also approved at the meeting. The Party Central Committee decided to invite relevant leading Party officials, as well as a group of non-Communist figures to attend the congress as non-voting participants.

The non-voting participants, totaling 284 in number, include non-delegate members and alternate members of the 15th CPC Central Committee and members of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, non-delegate nor specially invited delegates but former members of the Central Advisory Commission and some Communist Party veterans.

In addition, 152 non-Communist guests were invited as observers to attend the opening and closing sessions of the congress. They include incumbent and former vice chairpersons of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), former state vice president, leading members of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and the central committees of non-Communist parties, figures without party affiliation, non-Communist members of NPC Standing Committee and CPPCC National Committee who are now in Beijing, as well as representatives of ethnic minorities and the religious circle.

The schedule of the congress was also approved at the presidium meeting. According to the schedule, the 16th CPC National Congress is to open Friday morning and close on November.. 14.

(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2002)