The tenth plenary session of the IOC's Coordination Commission for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games opened in Beijing on Tuesday morning.
Giving an update on Beijing's preparations for the Games, BOCOG president Liu QI said that in 2008, the Chinese government has enhanced leadership for the Olympic preparations. President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabo stressed that the organizers should ensure the success of a top-quality Olympics and make the Games a grand gathering to enhance mutual understanding and friendly cooperation between the Chinese and the people around the world.
The Olympic Torch Relay has started and rehearsals for the Beijing Olympic opening and closing ceremonies are in full swing, he said.
On the construction of the Olympic venues, Liu said 36 of the 37 competition venues are already complete, and the National Stadium will be inaugurated this month. Meanwhile, all 45 independent training venues are complete.
Of the six auxiliary facilities, the Digital Beijing Building is complete, and April will see another three projects in place -- the Olympic Village, the Media Village and the National Conference Hall. Work is being intensified to ensure the delivery of the multi-functional broadcasting tower and Olympic Forest Park.
He said through 36 "Good Luck Beijing" sport events, the hardware facilities of the venues and their technical systems have undergone effective examination. Guided by the coordination commission, BOCOG is seriously taking measures to resolve the problems of the venues and task areas, Liu said.
Turning to media services, he said "One St
op" service has seen continuous improvements. In 2007, the Beijing Olympic Media Center held a total of 100 press conferences, with an attendance of 9,682 journalists.
China has paid great attention to food safety for the Olympics, he said. Beijing and surrounding provinces have provided food safety systems to ensure that the criteria will be higher than current international standards.
On environmental protection, the BOCOG president said with the continuous efforts to check pollution, the air quality in Beijing has improved in nine successive years. In the first two months of this year, the city saw the most number of days reaching the target since 2000. The 13 waterways in the urban area have been cleaned, and forest coverage has reached 51.6 percent. Beijing is engaged in the 14th phase of its air pollution control efforts and aims to make 70 percent of the year have good or fair air quality. Since March 1, Beijing has enacted the China IV fuel standard, equivalent to the Euro IV standard for motor vehicles. In addition, Beijing and surrounding regions will embark on synchronized air quality monitoring. A recent survey by an international air quality monitoring agency has found that the air quality in Beijing in August would be good and would not impact the athletes.
Liu said Beijing also has made remarkable progress in terms of preparations for the Paralympic Games. A new edition of the Games' competition schedule has been approved by the IPC; the Paralympic ticketing program has been launched; and the marketing program is basically complete.
With only 129 days to go to the start of the Olympics, Liu said, BOCOG and the Coordination Commission will closely collaborate to ensure the success of the Games.
Commission Chairman Hein Verbruggen thanked the Chinese government for its strong support of the Olympic preparations and expressed appreciation for the progress made by BOCOG and the Beijing Municipality. He promised to continue assisting BOCOG in its preparation efforts to achieve the common goal of staging a top quality Olympic Games with distinguishing features.
The meeting was chaired by Mr. Verbruggen. Present at the meeting were Liu Yandong, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, State Councilor, and Vice-President of BOCOG; Chen Zhili, Vice-Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the 11th NPC and Vice-President of BOCOG; Deng Pufang, Vice-Chairman of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) , President of the China Disabled Persons' Federation, and Executive President of BOCOG; Liu Peng, Minister of the General Administration of Sport, President of the Chinese Olympic Committee, and BOCOG Executive President; and Guo Jinlong, Beijing Mayor and BOCOG Executive President.