Overseas media commented that the two ongoing political sessions in Beijing will be of great significance to the China's development and prosperity, as they are striving to advance its process of reform and sustainable economic development.

The 12th National People's Congress (NPC), China's legislature, opened its first annual session Tuesday, and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) kicked off on Sunday.

In its report, the national Vietnam Television said that during the annual political sessions of the NPC and the CPPCC, which came after the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress, a new leadership will be elected and a route mapped out for China's future development.

Lianhe Zaobao in Singapore said that China is now going through a phase of economic and social transformation. The world is watching what influence a reshuffle in government leadership and steps taken in government institutional reforms will have on China's overall structure of governance in the next 10 years.

Nouvelles d'Europe, a Paris-based Chinese newspaper, said in its editorial that as important events following the 18th CPC National Congress, the 2013 annual sessions set to witness China's leadership transfer will draw special attention worldwide.

During the sessions, NPC delegates and CPPCC members will weigh gains and losses over the past five years and envision opportunities and challenges in the next five years, and discuss strategies and ways to realize the "Chinese Dream" put forth by the new CPC leadership.

Reuters reported that among main topics during the sessions are issues such as the income gap, corruption and pollution.

Yonhap News Agency quoted experts at South Korea's Hyundai Economic Research Institute as saying that the sessions will determine the direction of China's economic policies, promote economic growth focused on domestic demand and industrial restructuring centered on sectors with high added-value, decrease the imbalance between regions and social classes and improve corruption.

The Yomiuri Shimbun, a leading newspaper in Japan, said that measures to tackle air and water pollution and other environmental problems are expected to be high on the agenda of the NPC session.

China's new leadership is committed to the shift from a development mode putting excessive emphasis on economic growth to an environment- friendly one, said the paper.

El Pais, the highest-circulation daily newspaper in Spain, said in an article that the NPC session is of special importance as it is convened at a time when a new leadership will be elected.

Chinese leaders are well aware that China's economic and political development is now at a critical juncture. And China may fall into the "middle-income trap" following 30 years of rapid growth unless it takes further steps to accelerate reform, it said.

The new CPC leadership has adopted an attentive attitude in listening to people's voice after the 18th CPC National Congress in November, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has reported.

Despite confronting a host of thorny problems, the good ship of Chinese economy "has sailed through two periods of global economic crisis," the broadcasting company stressed.

Alejandro Simonoff, an international studies expert at the Argentine National University of La Plata, has said China's core task is shifting from how to develop economy and become affluent to how to effectively use the wealth to lift China to a new level.

The new leaders have sent some policy signals showing that they have been fully aware of their problems and known well where to go next, the expert added.

Li Zhuohui, chief editorial writer of Indonesia's Sinchew Daily has said the leadership elected at the ongoing 12th National People's Congress will usher the country into a new stage, where economic reforms will be deepened, political reforms stabilized, anti-corruption drive enhanced and people's living conditions improved, so as to eventually build an all-round well-off society by 2020.

Jose Luis Robaina, former director of Cuba's Asia and Oceania Research Center has spoken highly of the "Chinese Dream," a blueprint put forth by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, to carry on reforms, fight corruption, and stick to the path of peaceful development.

A strong, independent and stable socialist China serves the interests of the whole world, he added.

Overseas media also hailed the pragmatic and frugal feature highlighted by the ongoing NPC and CPPCC sessions.

Reports of Prensa Latina said reception ceremonies, flowers in hotel rooms, lavish banquets, delicate gifts and gala events are absent from the two sessions of this year while all delegates are arranged to take coaches and traffic control are reduced.

Vietnam TV has said there are less flowers along the streets of Beijing during this year's two sessions, a manifestation of China's latest efforts to fight extravagance.

Garrison Ikiara, lecturer of International Economics of the University of Nairobi, has said the CPC's latest efforts to fight extravagance showed that the ruling party has become more stricter with itself to better safeguard China's social harmony and stability.