In October 2015, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18^th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee adopted the Proposal on Formulating the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) on National Economic and Social Development (“the Proposal”). This document lays out the basic tenets, overall thinking, key goals, major strategies and policy orientation for China’s development during the 13^th Five-Year Plan (FYP) period.

In March 2016, the Fourth Session of the 12^th National People’s Congress adopted the Outline of the 13^th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (“the Outline”). The Outline lays out five tenets of development for the 13^th FYP period: innovation, coordination, ‘green’ development, openness and inclusiveness. The core goal is to improve the quality and efficiency of China’s development, and the main line of approach lies in supply-side structural reform. The Outline further explains the goals, thinking and tasks previously described in the Proposal, and articulates specific policies, initiatives and programmes to address development issues such as innovation, industry, regional coordination, environment, society, openness and reform.

KPMG’s Global China Practice (GCP) presents an in-depth analysis of the Proposal and the Outline in its flagship 13^th FYP report series, with a focus analysing China’s development priorities in the next five years and key opportunities for MNCs and Chinese companies.

We hope the reports will help enhance foreign governments’ and international institutions’ understanding of China’s policy shifts and development trends over the next five years, and empower them to guide, encourage and facilitate outbound and inbound investment to and from China. We also hope that this report will serve as a useful reference to foreign companies as they formulate their investment strategies in China, as well as to Chinese companies as they seek opportunities for mutually beneficial cross-border partnerships.