BEIJING, April 23 -- China's next five-year plan will further boost ecological progress, said Xu Lin, a department head at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner, on Wednesday.

People are paying much more attention to quality of life and have higher demands and the 13th Five-Year Plan will not ignore this, said Xu, who is head of the commission's department of development planning.

Most sectors have been doing well in meeting targets set by the 12th Five-Year Plan, Xu said.

However, progress on energy-saving and environmental protection have not been satisfactory according to an official evaluation on the 12th Five-Year Plan. But the NDRC, departments of the State Council and local governments are taking various measures to remedy this, Xu said.

Last Thursday, the commission announced it had started to formulate the 13th Five-Year Plan covering 2016 to 2020, with deepening reforms and economic growth at the forefront.

The five-year plan sets out an economic and social policy framework for the country, and needs to be approved by the National People's Congress, China's top legislature. The country's 12th Five-Year Plan period covers 2011 to 2015.