The 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is scheduled to hold its fifth plenary session in Beijing in October to discuss the formulation of China's 12th Five-Year Program (2011-2015).

The coming five years will be a key period to build a moderately prosperous society and a period to tackle the thorny problem of deepening the reform and opening-up process and accelerating the transformation of the economic development pattern, a statement issued after the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee met here Thursday said.

The program shall suit the changes in the domestic and international situation and meet the public's demands for a better life, the statement said.

The Thursday meeting called for a deep understanding of the changes and characteristics of the domestic and international situation to formulate the program, the statement said.

The Chinese economy has developed since the beginning of the year as was expected and in accordance with the government's macro-economic control efforts, the statement said.

While hailing the achievement of maintaining steady and relatively fast economic development, the meeting praised the government's energy-saving and emission-reduction efforts, the statement said.

The meeting also praised efforts to ensure overall steady price levels and coordinated development of investment and consumption, the statement added.

"While fully acknowledging the progress made, we should see that... currently the nation's economy faces a complicated domestic and overseas environment, and many problems still exist that could hold back the smooth development of the economy," the statement said.

According to the statement, the balancing of the relationships between steady and relatively fast economic development with economic restructuring and the management of inflation expectations is key aim of the government's macro-economic control efforts in the second half of the year.

The meeting vowed to continue to implement a pro-active fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy.

The meeting also called on authorities to, during the second half of the year:

-- Boost agricultural development and strengthen water conservation efforts;

-- Boost domestic demand in a sustainable manner and to raise urban and rural citizens' incomes;

-- Keep price levels basically stable;

-- Strengthen energy-conservation and greenhouse gas-emission reduction efforts;

-- Promote economic restructuring, the cultivation of strategic emerging industries and to improve the environment for development of the services industry and small- and medium-enterprises;

-- Boost foreign trade and efficiency in foreign capital utilization while improving the efficiency of the use of foreign capital and helping Chinese enterprises "go out;"

-- Deepen reforms in key sectors, including natural resources and the environment, state-owned enterprises, as well as in taxation and finance, while promoting comprehensive reforms in rural areas;

-- Safeguard and improve people's livelihood with more public resources and steady growth in employment and regulation of the real estate market.