BEIJING: China appointed Lou Jiwei as the country's new finance minister and Gao Hucheng as new commerce minister on Saturday while the annual session of parliament, the National People's Congress, formally completed the transition to a new leadership.

Lou was previously head of the CIC sovereign wealth fund, while Gao was previously vice commerce minister.

Parliament also voted in Xu Shaoshi as head of the state economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission. Xu was previously China's land and resources minister.