The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee recently held a forum to solicit opinions and suggestions from non-Communist personages on the documents of its latest plenary session held late last week.

CPC Central Committee General Secretary Hu Jintao briefed the leaders of the non-Communist parties, leaders of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and persons without party affiliation on what was considered when forming the document. He asked them to raise suggestions on its revision.

Some delegates made remarks, approving the summary made by the CPC Central Committee on the experiences of the 30 years of rural reform and development and supporting the guideline thinking, objectives, principles and measures of rural reform and development.

They raised suggestions on the overall plan of urban and rural development, farmland protection, grain security, spread of agricultural technology and rural financial system reform, as well as on deepening cross-Strait agricultural exchanges and cooperation and improving grassroots democracy.

After hearing the opinions, Hu said the suggestions were valuable and reflected the in-depth thinking of the participants. Relevant departments would conscientiously study and adopt them.

He added China was an agricultural country with the majority of its population in rural areas. Addressing issues on agriculture, the countryside and farmers would be taken as the fundamental work.

Since China launched its reform and opening up, the CPC Central Committee had held many plenary sessions to discuss agricultural and rural issues.

Facing new situations and tasks, the rural development system should be continually innovated, Hu said, adding rural reform remained the key to China's reform, and agriculture and rural development were still the strategic foundation of the country's development.

Promoting rural reform and development would bring the national economy and society into a new round of development, he added.

Hu asked the participants in the forum to contribute to the new socialist countryside construction by make in-depth study, identify and handle the protruding problems in rural reform and development in a timely manner, and raise relevant suggestions accordingly.

Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin and Xi Jinping, members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, also attended the forum.

On Sunday, the CPC Central Committee approved a decision on major issues concerning rural reform and development at the close of a four-day meeting, such as doubling the income of rural residents, boosting their consumption by a big margin and basically eliminating absolute poverty in rural areas by 2020.

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2008)