The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) along with seven other ministries on Tuesday published guidelines on promoting methanol-fueled vehicles in China.

Experts consider it an important step in the development of new-energy vehicles in the country.

The guidelines call for increased efforts to put the vehicles into use, and encourage automakers to develop passenger cars, vehicles for commercial use, and machinery trucks fueled by methanol.

"The guidelines mark another step forward in the commercialization of methanol vehicles," said Wei Anli, secretary-general of the group responsible for methanol vehicle trials under MIIT.

China already leads the world in both scale and technology in methanol vehicles, and related tests and trials have already been carried out, Wei said.