China's five-year plans, the blueprints in which the country set its economic goals with a long-term vision, offer valuable lessons for all economies, said Eduardo Pedrosa, executive director of the APEC Secretariat, on Wednesday.
In an interview with China Media Group (CMG) in the Republic of Korea (ROK)'s Gyeongju, host city for the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting, Pedrosa shared his perspectives on China's distinctive approach to long-term planning.
China's practice of formulating five-year plans provides valuable reference for all nations, according to Pedrosa.
"It's always good to be forward-looking, to have a plan on what you plan to do and to measure what you will achieve. I think there's this well-known saying that 'If you can't measure it, it won't get done.' So, this is very useful for different economies to think about. Our hope is that in setting these plans it will make us work towards that common goal," Pedrosa said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping explained China's perception of time to foreign leaders in these words: "Our understanding of time is measured in centuries and millennia." Asked to share his comment, Pedrosa said that maintaining such a long-term perspective in international development and multilateral cooperation is of crucial importance.
"Long-term goals are always good. It provides a guidebook, a map for the kind of objectives that you want to reach. There may be bumps along the road, you may be diverted, but at the end of the day you're hoping that you get to that 100-year goal. So, for example, APEC has its Putrajaya Vision that looks forward 20 years. That might be short in China's view, but again, still it's a long-term goal for us that we will be working towards. So there'll be bumps along the road. But we all hope that by working together we will achieve that goal," he said.
China's five-year plans offer model for all economies: APEC official
China's five-year plans offer model for all economies: APEC official
