The Ninth Shanghai Congress of the Communist Party of China will take place on May 24, with the task of electing the city's new Party leadership.

The decision was announced yesterday at the 12th plenary session of the Eighth CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee.

The congress will elect the Ninth CPC Shanghai Committee, as well as new members of the city's Party Discipline Inspection Committee. The congress, held every five years, will decide on the representatives from the city to attend the 17th CPC National Congress.

The reports submitted by the Eighth CPC Shanghai Committee and the CPC Shanghai Committee of Discipline Inspection are also scheduled to be heard and reviewed at the congress.

Officials participating in the plenary session over the weekend discussed and passed the report of the city's Party committee, and agreed to hand in the report to the congress.

Xi Jinping, Shanghai's Party secretary, said at the meeting that the Eighth CPC Shanghai Committee has led the city to make notable progress in building an international economic, financial, trade, and shipping center, laying a solid future foundation.

Xi said a number of middle-aged and young cadres will be elected at the congress. This will meet the demand of the leadership team for new faces, he said.

(Shanghai Daily May 14, 2007)