It was the last lunch of the year. As usual they forgot the birthday boys and girls of December, so once again no cake for me!

The speaker was Charlie Parton, of the EU Delegation; Topic: China’s Five-Year Plan.
Charlie Parton has been a Counsellor for Political Affairs at the Delegation of the European Union in China since 2011.
China’s Five-Year Plan is a general guideline for the country’s management and development, setting a direction. The government discussed its 13th Five-Year Plan in October 2015, covering the period of 2016 to 2020. It will be expanded before its official presentation in March 2016.
The Five-Year Plan contains very important messages: Continued economic growth with rebalancing and reform; sustainability, with a focus on the environment, on air and food safety; strengthening the army and the management of government. One of the themes is innovation which will be supported by repatriating experts and improving the education system. An emphasis is on China going global. SOE reform, land reform, tax reform, and price reform figure in the plan.
Unfortunately I missed much of the talk as I had to run out to take part of the Press Conference in CCTV for the Sanxia 3D movie (see other post).151215 rotary10.JPG

(thanks to Celine for the pictures and report)

President Daniel hosted the induction of a new member, Mr. Christoph W. President Daniel handed over the Rotary pin and induction certificate. Rotarian Christoph is sponsored by President Daniel.
President Daniel exchanging banner with visiting Rtn Daniel Counio
Tom Stader gave an update on the Library Project; our club as well as the Shanghai club have been working very closely to set up many libraries in poor schools, in China.