Premier Li wants new five-year plan outline "scientific, feasible"

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has asked to draw up a scientific, feasible and forward-looking blueprint to guide the country's overall development in the next five years.

An outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan on national economic and social development from 2016 to 2020 is being created by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner. The NDRC reported the progress of the work to Premier Li on Thursday.

Li said the outline should have reasonable targets and feasible implementation methods. It should also highlight the new development concepts of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing as well as structural reforms and serving the whole society's well being.

Development should be the top priority in the outline with a focus on structural reform - supply-side reform in particular - by means of promoting public innovation and mass entrepreneurship and other policies to shore up weak growth areas and cultivate a new competitive edge, Li said.

He urged effective coordination in developing the outline to ensure it can be well implemented and match the development framework of specific sectors and local governments.

The development targets of the next five years should be achieved step by step and the government should work effectively to implement the tasks in 2016 outlined by the just-concluded central economic work conference to set a good start for the 2016-2020 period, Li added.

The outline will be discussed by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council and then submitted to the National People's Congress (NPC) for deliberation and approval in March. Endi