"China Suppliers" (www.china.cn), the largest government-run E-business website in the country, was officially put into operation in Beijing on Monday.

"China Suppliers" is established and operated by the China Internet Information Center (www.china.com.cn) under the State Council's Information Office, which publishes news and information in 10 languages.

"China Suppliers" is the government's first large-scale involvement in the country's E-business, a fledgling industry that has been the domain of private companies, said a local observer.

The newly-opened commercial website, with the support of the Ministry of Commerce, targets small businesses that want to access international markets.

During its trial operation over the past month, some 3.6 million companies registered and it published 40 million commercial messages.

In 2005, China's on-line trade reached 650 billion yuan (81 billion US dollars) in sales, with 1.53 million domestic companies engaged in E-business.

Until recently, all major Chinese commercial websites were run by private firms.