China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday that the Communist Party has decided to hold a key economic policy meeting in Beijing in July.

The meeting is known as the third plenary session as it is the third gathering of the party's Central Committee, which was newly organized in the party convention held once every five years.

The third session was expected to be held last autumn as it customarily opens in a year after the party convention is held.

Observers say it was delayed because the committee was taking time drawing up effective economic measures amid a prolonged slump in the real estate market and other negative factors.

Past third sessions have made crucial policy decisions. The meeting in 1978 announced the shift to economic reforms and an open market. In 1993, it proclaimed the establishment of a socialist market economy.

China's economic outlook is increasingly unclear, with severe employment conditions and sluggish domestic demand, in addition to the battered property market.

Attention will be focused how the session would respond to such issues.