Yesterday, the full text of a proposal that will play a crucial role in shaping the country's development over the next five years was issued, after being adopted at the 5th session of the 16th Communist Party of China Central Committee that ended one week before.

The Proposal on the 11th Five-year Guidelines on National Economy and Social Development was divided into ten parts, and will provide the basis for drafting the 11th Five-Year Guidelines (2006-2010).

It said the first two decades of this century are of great importance to China's development, and the next five years especially so.

It included the aim of fully implementing a scientific concept of development, coordinating regional development and making China an energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly society.

In terms of the global environment, the proposal highlighted several challenges that the country would face.

The global economy would develop in a more uneven manner and competition for natural resources, markets, technology and human resources would be stiffer, it said, whilst trade protectionism is expected to take new forms.

Domestic problems identified included unbalanced development between urban and rural areas, an extensive mode of economic growth, irrational economic structuring, weak independent creativity, difficulty in solving problems relating to agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and great employment pressures.

The draft of the 11th Five-Year Guidelines will be reviewed at the 4th session of the 10th National People's Congress next March.

(Xinhua News Agency October 19, 2005)