A key party session concluded in Beijing on Sunday. It focused on the issue of agriculture and rural development.

Given this year is the thirtieth anniversary of the launch of opening up and reform policy, this meeting reviewed the achievements made over the past three decades, and mapped out plans for future development.

Rural issues were the major focus of the plenum.

Some delegates of the 17th Party Congress who work on agriculture and rural development, as well as experts on rural issues, attended the meeting as non-voting members.

The plenum listened to, and discussed, a report by General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Hu Jintao, who is entrusted by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

The plenum made a favorable assessment on the work of the Political Bureau this year. It stated that the Bureau has led the whole nation to achieve success in battling snow storms in southern regions of the country earlier this year and responding to the deadly May 12th Wenchuan Earthquake. Under its leadership, China also successfully hosted the Beijing Summer Olympics and the Paralympics, and carried out the successful Shenzhou Seven space mission.

The plenum said China's overall economic development is going well, with the economy growing and the financial system developing steadily. But it said problems still exist in the national economy, in the environment of international financial unrest and the global economic slowdown.

The plenum said China needs to adopt flexible and prudent macro-economic policies, increase domestic demands and maintain steadiness in the financial and capital market. It stated China's goal is to maintain its fast and healthy economic growth.

The plenum also approved a decision on major issues concerning rural reform and development.

The plenum said the Communist Party has always attached great importance to rural development. In 1978, the party adopted the policies of reforming and opening up. The plenum described how the reforms started in the country's vast rural areas and then spread across the whole nation. It said they increased rural productivity and dramatically improved the lives of rural residents.

The plenum said that, In general, rural reforms have made great contributions to establishing and improving the country's market economy, improving people's daily lives and pushing forward modernization. The plenum stressed that rural issues must stay as top priorities for the work of the Party, and agriculture must be kept as the foundation of the national economy.