Key meeting scheduled on the next Five-Year Plan

The Communist Party of China Central Committee will meet later this month in Beijing to set the course for the world's second-largest economy over the next five years.

The fifth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee will be held from Oct 26 to 29.

The dates were announced on Monday in a statement after a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, the country's top decision-making body.

Discussion of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) will be high on the agenda of the meeting.

Selected members and departments from within and outside the Party have made "good suggestions" for a draft of the plan, and their views will be incorporated into a final draft to be deliberated at the plenary session, the statement said.

The Party is committed to making China a "moderately prosperous society" by 2020, when the plan will reach completion. This goal includes doubling per capita income for urban and rural residents from 2010 levels.

China has enjoyed a decades-long boom since the launch of reform and opening-up in the late 1970s.

The process has trans-formed the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people and propelled the country to a bigger global role.

During the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), China faced a complicated international environment and a challenging need for reform to shore up development and stability.

Under the Party's leadership, the nation achieved major progress, Monday's statement said.

While economic development will be the main task, a people-oriented approach should be adopted for the 13th Five-Year Plan, it added.

Xinhua - AFP