The press center for the forthcoming annual sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) opened Friday.

The press center, which is located in the Media Center Hotel, will serve correspondents from home and abroad and assist them with their journalistic activities relating to the NPC and CPPCC sessions.

Many reporters have checked in at the press center, which has three desks for receiving reporters from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and foreign countries.

The press center has established homepages for the two sessions respectively and will update interview information to assist reporters who want to cover the sessions.

After the arrival of NPC deputies and CPPCC members in Beijing, the press center will publish their place of residence and contact information, according to an official of the press center.

It will also provide reporters with documents and files, publish agendas of the sessions, help reporters attend press conferences and group interviews, and arrange meetings between reporters and NPC deputies and CPPCC members.

The center has established an online chatroom for netizens to submit their most concerned issues via Internet to NPC deputies and CPPCC members.

The third sessions of the 11th NPC and the 11th CPPCC National Committee are scheduled to open on March 5 and March 3, respectively.