The 13^th National People’s Congress (NPC) will convene for its second annual session on Tuesday, March 5. The Session’s agenda has not yet been finalized, but we expect it to include the following:

• Hear and deliberate the Government Work Report;
• Hear and deliberate work reports by the NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC), the Supreme People’s Court, and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate;
• Review and approve the report on the execution of the 2018 National Economic and Social Development Plan and on the draft 2019 National Economic and Social Development Plan;
• Approve the 2019 National Economic and Social Development Plan;
• Review and approve the report on the execution of the 2018 Central and Local Budgets and on the draft 2019 Central and Local Budgets;
• Approve the 2019 Central Budget;
• Deliberate the draft Foreign Investment Law [外商投资法].

We also expect the Session to retroactively approve the resignation of Zhang Rongshun [张荣顺] as an NPCSC member in June 2018. He has since been appointed a deputy director of the Central Government’s Liaison Office in Macau. Under Chinese law, an NPCSC member must resign if he is to serve in an administrative agency.

On March 4, the Session will convene for a preparatory meeting to select members of the Presidium (which will preside over the Session) and to finalize the Session’s agenda. The Presidium will then immediately meet to decide on (among other matters) the Session’s daily schedule. Shortly thereafter the Session is expected to hold its first press conference.

We expect the NPC’s 2019 annual session to close around March 15. On that last day, we expect it to approve the Foreign Investment Law.

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