Premier Wen Jiabao has proposed an annual growth rate of 7.5 percent for the national economy during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010).

This indicates a projected target of doubling the per capita GDP of 2000 by the year 2010.

Wen made the proposal Sunday while delivering a report on the work of the government at the opening meeting of the Fourth Session of the Tenth National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

Between 2001 and 2005, China's GDP grew at an average annual rate of 9.5 percent, 0.9 percentage points higher than the annual figure in the Ninth Five-Year Plan period (1996-2000).

According to the latest data from the first national economic census and the actual economic performance in 2005, the GDP growth rate during the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005) was higher than originally projected.

If the average annual growth rate is maintained at 7.5 percent during the 11th Five-Year Plan period, the goal of doubling the 2000 per capita GDP by 2010 set in the proposal last year by the Communist Party of China Central Committee will be surpassed, Wen said.

"This is an ambitious target, but we can attain it with hard work," the premier said.

When making a comparison between the 11th Five-Year Plan and the previous 10th Five-Year Plan, Duan Yongji, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body, said that the economy used to be fueled by investment with industry as the leading force, but domestic consumption and innovation are expected to play a bigger role.

The priorities for the 2006-2010 period are quality and innovation, he said.

"Only in this way can China cure the chronic illness of slow accumulation of wealth amid fast economic growth," Wen said.

Giving priority to quality is a "good thing," China's economy is bound to be more healthy, he said.

Observers have noticed that the premier reaffirmed that efforts must be made to implement a scientific concept on development, promote economic restructuring and change of the pattern of economic growth, stimulate innovation, and resolve the problems affecting the vital interests of the people.

"The foremost task is to optimize economic structure, change the growth pattern and improve growth quality and economic performance," said Wang Mengkui, an NPC deputy and director of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

Noting that China's economy has come to a "critical juncture," most economists are optimistic about the prospects of China's economy.

In the coming five years, analysts said, the consumption structure of both urban and rural residents will be upgraded; industrial restructuring and urbanization will pick up speed as well.

With abundant labor resources, soaring household savings and gradual improvement of the market economy, China's economy will surely maintain coordinated and sustained growth, they said.