China set up an association for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on Monday to promote their development.

Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan said at the inauguration ceremony that the number of SMEs had risen rapidly in recent years and that SMEs had played an important role in boosting economic growth and employment.

He urged the SMEs to pay more attention to environmental protection and social responsibility.

Enterprises should be guided towards labor-intensive industry, modern service industry, equipment manufacturing and hi-tech industry, said Zeng. He also called for the market entry rules for SMEs to be relaxed.

"The association should serve as a link between SMEs and the government and help SMEs solve problems in their development," said the vice premier.

Statistics with the National Development and Reform Commission show that 99.6 percent of Chinese companies are SMEs, which contribute 58 percent to the country's GDP.

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