Private enterprises will play an increasingly important role in the process of the nation's outbound direct investment activities and will probably surpass State-owned enterprises as the major force of China's investment wave, a trade official said.

In 2011, around 45 percent of China's outbound direct investment in the non-financial sector was from non-State-owned enterprises, said Shi Ziming, commercial counselor at the Department of Outward Investment and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, in a report.

Although SOEs still accounted for around 90 percent of China's cumulative ODI by the end of 2011, Shi said he expected the proportion by private investors to continue expanding as the government supports investors seeking overseas projects.