Premier Zhu Rongji has called for managers to work closely with their employees as part of the drive to reform State-owned enterprises (SOEs)in China.

Zhu's comments were made to some key SOEs' managers taking part in short training courses at the National School of Administration.

Training courses are an important in realizing the goal of getting loss-making SOEs out of difficulty within three years, the premier said.

"We have finally come to a consensus on SOE reforms and will surely succeed in our reforms". The key to SOE reform now lies solely with managers. Managers are crucial to reform and development of SOEs, Zhu said.

He stressed that more efforts should be made in training, selecting, and supervising SOE managers.