七、积极开展对外交往工作
7. We actively carried out foreign relations work.

贯彻党和国家外交工作总体部署，充分发挥人大对外交往的特点和优势，积极开展同外国议会和多边议会组织的交流合作。
In accordance with the overall arrangements of the Party and state on diplomatic work, we have actively engaged in exchanges and cooperation with foreign parliaments and multilateral parliamentary organizations, making full use of the NPC’s unique strengths in developing foreign relations.

（一）巩固拓展议会机制交流。中国全国人大与俄罗斯联邦委员会、国家杜马共同建立新的中俄议会合作委员会并召开第一次会议，两国立法机关领导人共同主持，保持了中俄议会合作高水平运行。安排美国众议院高级别代表团访华并首次访问西藏，与欧洲议会举行2次机制交流会议，重启中断多年的中日议会交流机制。正式启动与蒙古国家大呼拉尔机制交流，与秘鲁、阿根廷议会建立政治对话机制。加强与主要大国的议会外交，提升互信水平，促进互利合作。
1) We consolidated and expanded the NPC’s mechanism-based exchanges with foreign parliaments.The NPC, the Russian Federation Council, and the State Duma of Russia jointly established the new China-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. The committee held its first meeting, which was co-chaired by the leaders of the legislative bodies of the two countries. This initiative has helped to maintain a high level of parliamentary cooperation between China and Russia. We arranged for a high-level delegation of the United States House of Representatives to visit China, which included the first ever visit to Tibet. We held two meetings with the European Parliament under the mechanism of regular exchanges and resumed our parliamentary exchanges with Japan, which had been suspended for years. We officially implemented the mechanism of regular exchanges with the State Great Hural of Mongolia and established mechanisms for political dialogue with Peruvian and Argentine congresses. We strengthened diplomacy with the parliaments of other major countries of the world in a bid to enhance mutual trust and mutually beneficial cooperation.

（二）扎实推进议会多边外交。2015年是世界反法西斯战争胜利和联合国成立70周年，委员长率团出席在美国纽约联合国总部召开的第四次世界议长大会，提出将“和平与发展”列入大会主题、把消除贫困和促进经济社会发展作为2030年可持续发展议程的核心目标等主张；出席在俄罗斯举行的首次金砖国家议会论坛，丰富了金砖国家合作内容，增强了信心和凝聚力。积极参与各国议会联盟、亚太议会论坛、亚洲议会大会等多边组织活动，主动提出中国倡议，提升发展中国家的国际影响力，维护发展中国家共同利益。
2) We steadily promoted multilateral diplomatic activities among parliaments.The year 2015 marked the 70th anniversary of the end of the Global War against Fascism and the founding of the United Nations. As Chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC, I led a delegation to the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. At the conference, I proposed that peace and development be made a theme of the meeting and that eradicating poverty and promoting economic and social development be made core objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. I also attended the first BRICS Parliamentary Forum in Russia, which further enriched cooperation among BRICS countries and enhanced their confidence and cohesion.We actively participated in the activities of multilateral organizations such as the Inter Parliamentary Union, the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum, and the Asian Parliamentary Assembly. During these activities, we projected China’s voice and worked to expand the international influence of developing countries and safeguard their common interests.

（三）密切各层次友好往来。积极开展与俄罗斯、韩国、印度、法国、匈牙利等国家议会的高层交往，接待巴基斯坦、意大利、南非、孟加拉、越南等49个议会代表团和其他来访团。发挥外事委员会交流窗口作用，推进有关专门委员会、工作委员会与外国议会的对口交流。围绕深化务实合作、推动“一带一路”建设与有关国家发展战略对接，加强政策协调和法律保障，不断完善有利于合作的政策和法律环境。结合重点立法项目，积极开展立法经验互学互鉴。
3) We conducted friendly international exchanges at all levels.We actively engaged in high-level exchanges with the parliaments of Russia, the Republic of Korea, India, France, and Hungary and received 49 parliamentary or other delegations from countries including Pakistan, Italy, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. We gave play to the role of the NPC’s Foreign Affairs Committee as a window for international exchanges, and encouraged the relevant special committees and working committees to engage in exchanges with their counterparts in foreign parliaments. With a view to deepening pragmatic cooperation and promoting the alignment of the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative (the Belt and Road Initiative) with the development strategies of the relevant countries, we engaged in a continued effort to foster policy and legal environments that are more conducive to cooperation by stepping up policy coordination and providing stronger legal guarantees. We also encouraged mutual learning, drawing on the experience of other countries with reference to our key legislative items.

我们在对外交往中，坚决维护国家主权、安全、发展利益。利用各种场合、采取多种形式，广泛宣传中国特色社会主义道路、理论、制度，广泛宣传中国发展的巨大成就，深入阐释中国梦的丰富内涵和重大意义，讲好中国人大故事，增进国际社会对中国的了解、信任和支持。
During our international exchanges, we resolutely safeguarded China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests. On numerous occasions and in a variety of ways, we publicized the path, theory, and system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, informed the outside world of China’s achievements in development, explained the meaning and significance of the Chinese Dream, and shared the story of the NPC, thereby winning China more understanding, trust, and support from the international community.

八、大力加强自身建设
8. We redoubled self-improvement efforts.

始终把思想政治建设放在首位，坚持用邓小平理论、“三个代表”重要思想、科学发展观和习近平总书记系列重要讲话精神武装头脑、指导实践、推动工作，坚定中国特色社会主义道路自信、理论自信、制度自信。深入开展“三严三实”专题教育，坚定理想信念，切实增强思想自觉和行动自觉，始终以严和实的精神做好人大工作。坚持不懈抓作风建设，继续改进会风文风，积极开展调查研究。深入推进党风廉政建设和反腐败斗争，努力营造风清气正、干净干事的良好氛围。坚持常委会党组集体学习制度，认真办好常委会专题讲座，全面提升运用法治思维和法治方式开展工作、解决问题的能力。全国人大机关切实贯彻“三严三实”要求，全面加强思想、组织、作风和制度建设，在全国人大工作中充分发挥了参谋助手和服务保障作用。
Attaching primary importance to enhancing theoretical competence and fostering political integrity, we armed ourselves with Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, the Scientific Outlook on Development, and the guiding principles from General Secretary Xi Jinping’s major policy addresses, and used them to guide our practice and work. As a result, we have further strengthened our confidence in the path, theory, and system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and fortified our shared ideals and convictions. Following in-depth study of the Three Stricts and Three Honests, we have become more purposeful in acting in line with them when carrying out the work of the NPC. In a persistent effort to improve our style of work, we continued to improve our meeting culture and style of writing, and actively carried out investigations and studies. We also advanced our effort to improve Party conduct, uphold integrity, and fight corruption, striving to foster a positive, upright, and clean working atmosphere. We continued to implement the system of collective study among members of the Leading Party Members’ Group of the Standing Committee, and made good use of Standing Committee seminars to comprehensively raise our capacity to think and act in accordance with the rule of law as we carry out our work and strive to resolve problems. The bodies of the NPC, by earnestly following the requirements of the Three Stricts and Three Honests, made comprehensive improvements with regard to their political integrity, organization, work style, and institutions, thereby being able to give full play to their role as an advisor, assistant, and service-provider in the work of the NPC.

常委会加强对各专门委员会的领导，注重发挥专门委员会的重要作用。各专门委员会结合实际认真履行法定职责，做了大量富有成效的工作。一是贯彻落实常委会立法规划，牵头起草种子法（修订）、证券法（修订）、野生动物保护法（修订）等法律草案，依法提请审议；对其他国家机关负责起草的法律案，提前介入起草工作，认真审议并提出报告；法律委员会加强法律案统一审议工作，积极采纳吸收各方面意见建议，广泛凝聚立法共识。二是围绕常委会确定的监督议题，具体组织实施执法检查，深入开展专题调研，提出务实中肯的改进意见建议，跟踪监督常委会审议意见研究处理情况；财政经济委员会加强经济运行情况分析，依法做好计划规划草案、预算决算草案的审查工作。三是认真审议代表议案，积极督促有关方面加大重点督办建议办理工作力度，努力做好对外交往、条约审议等工作，为提高全国人大及其常委会工作质量和水平作出了积极贡献。
The Standing Committee strengthened leadership over the work of special committees while emphasizing the need to maximize their role. The special committees earnestly performed their legally mandated duties and functions in light of the actual conditions and carried out a large number of highly effective initiatives. First, they ensured the implementation of the legislative plan formulated by the Standing Committee. They led the efforts to draft legislation such as revisions to the Seed Law, the Securities Law, and the Wildlife Protection Law, and submitted the drafts for deliberation as prescribed by law. They were also involved in the drafting of laws by other state organs at an early stage, and produced reports after careful deliberation. The Law Committee, in particular, enhanced its unified deliberation of drafts of legislation, adopted comments and suggestions from all sectors of society, and built up broad consensus on legislation. Second, with a focus on oversight topics selected by the Standing Committee, the special committees organized and conducted inspections of compliance with laws, carried out in-depth research on selected topics, made pragmatic and pertinent comments and suggestions, and conducted follow-up oversight over the adoption of comments issued by the Standing Committee. The Financial and Economic Affairs Committee, by strengthening analysis of economic performance, did a good job examining the government’s 2015 draft plan for national economic and social development as well as draft budgets and final accounts in accordance with the law. Third, they conscientiously examined deputies’ proposals, urged the relevant government departments to redouble their efforts in the handling of deputies’ key suggestions, and strived to deliver a sound performance in international exchanges and the deliberation of treaties, thereby making a positive contribution to improving the work of the NPC and its Standing Committee.

各位代表！
Fellow Deputies,

全国人大常委会工作取得的成绩，是在以习近平同志为总书记的党中央正确领导下，全国人大代表、常委会组成人员、各专门委员会组成人员和全国人大机关工作人员兢兢业业、履职尽责、扎实工作的结果，是国务院、最高人民法院、最高人民检察院和地方各级人大及其常委会密切配合、团结协作的结果，是全国各族人民充分信任、大力支持的结果。在此，我代表全国人大常委会表示崇高的敬意和衷心的感谢！
The achievements made by the Standing Committee last year came under the correct leadership of the CPC Central Committee headed by General Secretary Xi Jinping. They were the result of the hard work of NPC deputies, members of the NPC Standing Committee and special committees, and the staff of all NPC bodies; the close cooperation of the State Council, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and local people’s congresses at all levels and their standing committees; and the full trust and great support of all of China’s people. On behalf of the Standing Committee, I would like to express our highest respect for and sincere gratitude to them all.

回顾过去一年的工作，我们清醒地认识到，同协调推进“四个全面”战略布局的新要求相比，同人大代表和人民群众的新期盼相比，我们的工作还存在一些差距和不足。在立法工作中的主导作用有待充分发挥，监督工作实效需要着力增强，发挥人大代表作用、密切联系群众的相关制度需要健全并更好落实，深入基层调研、回应社会关切尚有不足，人大理论研究有待加强，人大新闻宣传工作需要改进。我们要高度重视这些问题，虚心听取代表和各方面的意见建议，自觉接受监督，不断加强和改进各项工作。
Looking back on our work over the past year, we realize that there are still some deficiencies that have caused us to fall short of the new requirements for advancing the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy in a coordinated manner, as well as the new expectations of deputies and the general public. We need to ensure that the NPC better plays its dominant role in the legislative process; devote major efforts to making our oversight more effective; improve and better implement systems enabling deputies to play their roles and maintain close ties with the people; address our inadequacies in carrying out research at the community level and responding to the concerns of the public; strengthen theoretical research on the system of people’s congresses; and achieve new progress in the NPC’s information and publicity work. Taking these problems seriously, we must listen to comments and suggestions from deputies and all sectors of society with an open mind, willingly subject ourselves to oversight, and consistently improve our work.