BEIJING - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for more efforts to streamline administration procedures and scale back government controls to unleash economic vitality.

The government will cancel more approval items, make enterprise registration easier and waive administrative charges it deems unreasonable this year, Li said at a national teleconference of China's senior and middle-level officials.

The transformation of governmental functions should address people's concerns, improve government services and strengthen supervision to guarantee a transparent, orderly and just market environment, the premier said.

The meeting underlined the leadership's resolution to tackle the long-standing issue of red tape, in the hope of promoting a more streamlined and efficient economy.

Last Wednesday, during a State Council meeting, the premier expressed his displeasure at excessive regulation and red tape, ridiculing scenarios in which citizens were asked to prove "your mother is your mother" when obtaining a government permit.

Fighting red tape has become more pressing as China's growth slows, and reform measures rolled out to steer the economy away from its unsustainable model, powered by state-directed investment, to more vital growth engines such as private consumption and services.

Since 2013, the premier has championed the streamlining of administrative approval and the slashing of red tape to help the market function efficiently.

Central government departments controlled 1,526 approval items in 2013. By the end of 2014, about a third have been canceled or delegated to lower agencies. A total of 205 were abolished last year and another 248 will follow this year.

Thanks to a new business registration policy, which took effect in March last year, the number of newly-founded companies in China surged almost 46 percent year on year to 3.65 million in 2014, with their total registered capital hitting 19.05 trillion yuan ($3.11 trillion), up 99 percent, official data showed.