BEIJING — Deputies to the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) gathered on March 4 at a preparatory meeting to elect the presidium and secretary-general and set the agenda for the second session of the 13th NPC scheduled to begin on March 5.

A 176-member presidium was elected, with Wang Chen as the secretary-general of the NPC session, according to a statement issued after the meeting.

All preparation for the annual session is done, according to Chairman of the 13th NPC Standing Committee Li Zhanshu, who presided over the preparatory meeting and expressed his hope that the session will be democratic, united, pragmatic and progressive.

As of March 3, 2,956 of the 2,975 NPC deputies had registered with the session’s secretariat, and 2,932 attended the preparatory meeting.

The meeting also adopted the agenda of the session.

Prior to the preparatory meeting, a meeting of chairman and vice-chairpersons of the NPC Standing Committee was held, where attendees heard the report on the drafts of the agenda and the presidium and secretary-general name lists of the upcoming annual session, and decided to submit the drafts to the preparatory meeting.