The 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and its Standing Committee were active in the fight against COVID-19 in 2020 and "promptly engaged" CPPCC organizations across the country in combating the pandemic, China's top political advisor Wang Yang said on Thursday. 

Wang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, made the remarks when delivering a work report at the fourth session of the 13th National Committee of the CPPCC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. 

"Acting on the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee, we promptly engaged the participating organizations of the CPPCC, its special committees, and members from different social sectors in the fight against COVID-19," Wang said. 

"Working to improve major epidemic prevention and control mechanisms and facilitate the resumption of production and business operations, we actively supported the efforts to ensure stability on six fronts and maintain security in six areas," he added. 

The "six fronts" refer to employment, the financial sector, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment and expectations. The "six areas" refer to job security, basic living needs, operations of market entities, food and energy security, stable industrial and supply chains and the normal functioning of county-level governments.

The CPPCC National Committee and its Standing Committee set up a fast track procedure for handling proposals, published a total of 249 issues of the Daily Report on Social Conditions and submitted 699 proposals, contributing to the decision-making process of the CPC Central Committee, Wang said. 

Over the past year, the CPPCC National Committee and its Standing Committee held 23 consultations and organized 80 inspections, surveys and research tours, despite difficulties caused by the pandemic, he said. 

The top political advisory body also held discussion sessions in various forms to facilitate the formulation of China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), he said. 

In addition, the organization improved its working mechanisms to ensure effective implementation of the guiding principles of the Central Conference on CPPCC Work, Wang said in his report. 

"We formulated the rules on the consultation work of the CPPCC National Committee, which define the scope, forms, principles and procedures for consultation, set up a mechanism for conducting in-depth studies of major strategic issues, encouraged members to conduct research on their own initiative, and built a pool of specialists for participating in and deliberating on state affairs," he said. 

The fourth session of the 13th National Committee of the CPPCC, part of China's annual Two Sessions, started in Beijing on Thursday afternoon.