Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to promote enterprise innovation and foster more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are specialized and innovative.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in a congratulatory letter to a conference regarding these enterprises' development that opened on Thursday in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province.

Noting that SMEs are an important force in promoting innovation, boosting employment and improving people's livelihood, the Chinese president voiced his hope that they can play a larger role in enhancing the stability of industrial chains and supply chains and advancing economic and social development.

He urged officials at different levels to build a favorable environment for the development of SMEs, beef up support for them, help grow their confidence, focus on efforts to promote their innovation and improve the protection of intellectual property rights to nurture more SMEs with high growth potential, advanced technology and strong market competitive edge.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, read Xi's letter during the opening ceremony of the conference hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

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