Chinese President Jiang Zemin said Monday that scientific and technological progress and innovation should be promoted so that it can make new and greater contributions to achieving the development targets of the Chinese nation in the new century.

Scientific and technological progress and creation has increasingly become a decisive factor for economic and social development, Jiang said while attending a group discussion during the on-going Fifth Session of the Ninth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

CPPCC members present at the group discussion were also members of the Jiu San Society and personages without party affiliation. Most of them are intellectuals from the scientific and technological circles.

Jiang, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, noted that the CPC has been in good cooperation with non-Communist parties and non-party personages, who have played and will continue to play an important role in the country's reform, opening-up and modernization drive.

Li Ruihuan, chairman of the Ninth CPPCC National Committee, also attended the group discussion.

(People's Daily March 5, 2002)