City ushers in key political season

Shenzhen's political advisers and lawmakers are ready for the city’s “two sessions” as they checked in for their annual meetings, a major mark on the city’s political calendar, yesterday.

The Third Session of the Seventh Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the annual meeting of the city’s political advisory body, officially opens today and will last for two and a half days.

The meeting for the city’s legislature, the Fourth Session of the Seventh Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress, is scheduled to open tomorrow and will conclude Thursday.

A lawmaker from Guangming District registers for the annual session of the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress, the city’s legislature, at a hotel in Futian District yesterday. Shenzhen enters the “two sessions” time today as the annual sessions of its political advisory body and legislature will start today and tomorrow, respectively. Zhang Yu

During the political advisory body’s meeting, political advisers will deliberate the work report of the Standing Committee of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the CPPCC and hear a report on how political advisers’ proposals have been handled since last year’s annual session.

They will also hear a report on the examination of proposals submitted to this year’s annual session and hold group discussions on promoting the city’s development in various aspects.

Sun Lili, founder of Shenzhen Mangrove Wetlands Conservation Foundation (MCF), who is attending the annual session of the political advisory body, plans to make a suggestion on mobilizing volunteers in building the world’s first International Mangrove Center in Shenzhen.

“We should set up a high-quality volunteers team by recruiting people who have a basic knowledge of ecological conversation, publicity and international exchange, and putting them through systematic training,” she said. “They can help educate local citizens and visitors on wetland preservation, and play a part in international mangrove exchanges and cooperation between Shenzhen and the rest of the world that are about to happen.”

Liang Yanming, another political adviser, said: “I will pay more attention to the city’s workforce and how Shenzhen will build a city of skilled talents. This is also a goal for some consultations and discussions. I hope that a good start as well as good results will be made this year.”

The city’s lawmakers will deliberate on the city government’s work report, review the report on the implementation of the 2022 plan and the 2023 draft plan for the city’s economic and social development during the annual session.

The agenda will also include a review of the report on the execution of local budgets for 2022 and the 2023 draft plan for local budgets, among other staple documents.

Work reports of the Standing Committee of the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress, Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court and Shenzhen People’s Procuratorate will also be discussed at the meeting.

Lawmaker Ou Guicheng said he is most concerned about the high-quality development of small and medium-sized enterprises. “We should make efforts to nurture specialized and sophisticated enterprises that produce new and unique products.”

The voting system for projects related to people’s livelihood, an innovative practice that aims to improve people’s well-being, will continue since its debut last year.

The city’s top 10 projects for improving people’s livelihood in 2023 will be decided at the closing meeting of the legislature’s annual session Thursday afternoon.