BEIJING - China's economic and social development plan for the 2011-2015 period is on the right track for China's sustainable growth, with challenges lying ahead, said Peter Sands, Group Chief Executive of Standard Chartered.

"The thing I like about the five year plan is its emphasis on quality rather than quantity, and people in China are realizing GDP is not the sole measure of the economic development," Sands said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

The emphasis on environment protection, income distribution adjustment and less reliance on resource showed that the Chinese government knows its priorities and directions, he said.

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But the real challenge lies in executing the plan. "It is not that you write a plan and it automatically happens," he said.

One major challenge for China was to turn urbanization into a stronger force of social and economic development, which required fundamental changes in the Chinese cities in terms of infrastructure, education and social services, he said.

Boosting productivity in natural resources sector was another difficulty for China, he said.

He said underneath all the challenges there was a big issue of education and skill training as the growth model shift needed more knowledgeable people to do research.

"China is very successful at making things, but it still has a long way to go in terms of research, branding and the services that go around the product. You need to create more value-added products," he said.