Set up after the 1997 election, the policy forum - which meets in private - has taken over as Labour's key policy-making body.

BBC: Labour row looms on internal polls

"You get to see the transformation on the ground, " said Mr. Aquino, whose years as head of the country's National Youth Commission, a policy-making body, have left him frustrated and led him to become a social entrepreneur.

WSJ: Microloans Target Shopkeepers

After Kim's July 4th missile launch, Chinese leader Hu instructed his government's leading foreign policy-making body, the Leading Group on Foreign Affairs, to begin formulating a strategy to minimize the deleterious effects that a North Korean collapse might have upon China.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Why North Korea's nukes?