The State Development and Reform Commission vowed to broaden the vision when mapping out China's 11th Five-year Plan. By way of analogue, Mr. Ma Kai, Director of the commission, compared the national economy to a cake. In his vision, the "cake" will not only be made bigger, but also better and sliced with artistry.

He illustrated that making the cake bigger means to strengthen the comprehensive power while baking it better means to improve the quality of the economy. And a harmonious development is the perfect way of cutting.

The 11th Five-year Plan is China's first blue-print for the country��s medium and long term development after the scientific idea of development was proposed by the central government. At the National Conference for Development and Reform on December 8 Ma unveiled that China would embed new ideas into its outlook for 2006-2010.

Specifically, he said the new roadmap would give the development of human a higher priority than physical wealth. More attention would be paid to employment, compulsory education, public health and public security, Ma. Noted. Human and social index, he revealed, would be added into the scheme.

Ma stressed the consideration of the capability. It is necessary to take both needs and feasibility into account. Rational targets are possible only when they are in tune with the capacity of the resources of land and water, ecological environment, power and transportation.

He made a call for an open vision and a good understanding of the overall situation. He took the issue of agriculture as an example. In his opinion, the real solution involves both the urban and rural areas rather than confined with the agriculture or rural areas. The development of the non-agricultural sectors boosts agriculture. Urbanization is the way to bring prosperity to rural areas. And farmers will get richer when there are less farmers.

Actually agriculture will enjoy more support next year. The policy framework will be improved to preserve the farmland, increase grain yields, relax farmers from burdens of taxes, and extend subsidies to grain growers. Social investment is encouraged to go to the agriculture.

Ma urged to have a grain safety pre-warning system in place to prevent any sharp fluctuation of the purchasing prices of grain. The imports and exports of grain will be under the macro-control.

What's more, always bear in mind the fact that decision making by the government carries different weight in various fields, Ma claimed. For those where the market plays a leading role, there will be less specified instructions on economic index and industrial development. For those concerning government functioning, more sophisticated plans are needed to lay a good foundation for scientific decision making.

Three basic tasks are scheduled to be completed next year for the planning. A guideline for the 11th Five-year Plan will be submitted to the State Council by the end of next year. Programs for some special sectors, such as a comprehensive transportation network, water conservancy, auto industry, and informationalization process, will be drafted. And the picture of the future of the two pilot regional cooperation, Yangtze River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, will be drawn.

By People's Daily Online