Dear readers

It is a day magnetic to all the attentions when the top echelon of Communist Party of China starts to hold its fifth plenary session （Oct. 26 - 29） of the 18th National Congress to set the tune for national economic and social development in the coming five years. The economic growth slowed down， hovering at about 7 percent in gross domestic product （GDP） in recent years， particularly this year that witnessed a down-slide in the first nine months， with the third quarter dropping to break the floor “7”， a psychological bottom line for business communities and analysts. The central government has already defined the middle-high speed in economic growth as a new normal that features a speed change synchronous with the structural rationalization， and pointed out in explicit term that countrys economy is growing at a rate as estimated within the reasonable status， despite an unpleasant fall to 6.9 percent in the third quarter.

According to the bulletin released on Oct.19th by National Bureau of Statistics， the troika of driving national economic growth shows a minor speed change in the first nine months with respect to consumption that reaches 21.6 trillion yuan， up by 10.5 percent， 0.1 percentage point faster than that of the first half year， investment that arrives at 39.45 trillion yuan， up by 10.3 percent， 1.1 percentage point slower than the first half and export that registers for 10.23 trillion yuan， a fall by 1.8 percent. Industrial growth rises by 6.2 percent， 0.1 percentage point drop as against the first six months. Based on these achievements， theres no point in worrying about the future of the world second largest economy， with no grounds at all for speculations or even exaggerations that China will slide down into swamp of difficulties.

It argues well that economic performance over the past nine months is fundamentally all right within growth ranges at reasonable rate as expected， but a fairly good growth speed is of paramount importance to a nation densely populated with over 1.34 billion people. Whats in store for the next five years is instrumental in shaping the future not only for China， but also for the world as Chinas economic growth rate contributes to the global performance by about 30 percent. Although the official full text of the Proposal for the 13th Five-Year Program （2016 - 2020） is to be made public a few days away from now， the key tasks to undertake in the coming half a decade are already published with 10 target lines in the new route-map， namely， keeping on economic growth， reshaping economic growth model， adjusting and optimizing industrial structures， pushing forward innovation-driven development， stepping up agricultural modernization， reforming system and mechanism on many fronts， driving well-balanced development， strengthening environmental and ecological progress & civilization， securing and improving peoples life， and expediting poverty-fighting process with projects development.

Of all 10 missions， the economic growth comes to the very forefront， capitalizing on the importance of its speed， even though the exact growth rate is not yet given. Previously， China already set the economic goal of doubling GDP and per capita income from 2010 by 2020 when the 13th Five-Year Program period comes to an end. For securing the goal， the target growth can only be realized by keeping annual growth rate between 6.5 and 7 percent on average. The same is true of the textile industry in China with many tasks in vision， technological upgrading must be the priority of all the considerations in sustaining a healthy and fairly fast growth. Thats why ITMA， a value-added innovation platform， is important for Chinese textile players. Since 1951， ITMA has been the worlds leading integrated textile and garment technologies exhibition. We know it.

ZHAO Hong， Editor-in-Chief

November， 2015