Senior Chinese official Li Changchun Thursday called for reform and innovation in promoting the development and prosperity of the country's animation industry.

Li, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remark during his visit to the first China Animation and Cartoon Arts Exhibition held in Beijing.

Li said the animation and cartoon arts has played a very important role in enriching people's cultural lives and cultivating new economic growth area.

The country's animation industry is standing at a crucial point, Li said, urging practitioners in the industry to work hard and continue reform and innovation to push for the development and prosperity of the industry.

The official encouraged practitioners of the industry to create more innovative animation and cartoon works with independent intellectual property right by taking inspiration from China's 5,000-year traditional culture.

The government at all levels should further improve their policies and build up a mechanism that help foster a group of enterprises with great competitiveness, Li stressed.

The cartoon companies should make full use of the new technologies to develop cartoon and animation games for mobile devices which have seen great market potential, he added.

With the flooding of western cartoon products in the Chinese market, China's domestic animation industry has posted deficit since the 1980s.

The Chinese government has made an annual investment of 200 million yuan into the cartoon industry since 2006 to boost original animation creation and development of domestic companies.

He also encouraged domestic enterprises to explore overseas animation market and participate in international competition so as to enhance the influence of of the Chinese animation and cartoon industry.

The exhibition is being held from Oct. 26 to Nov. 18 at the China Arts Gallery with 312 pieces of animation and cartoon arts works.