Development

RMB currency of choice in cross-border trade

By Li Yingqing and Guo Anfei (China Daily Yunnan Bureau)
Updated: 2011-06-13 17:39

A roundtable workshop on pan-Asian regional cooperation among banking institutes was held on Monday in Kunming, the capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province.

Liu Guangxi, director of the Financial Office of the Yunnan Provincial Government said talks focused on the internationalization of the RMB and a cross-border trade settlement was started, based on facilitating trade and investment by adopting the RMB as the primarily accepted trading currency.

It is anticipated that this will increase border trade, increase liquidity currency flow to achieve mutual benefit, and promote trade and investment convenience.

Liu added that in recent years in Yunnan, the RMB had become a regional currency, widely used as the means of payment in economic and trade exchanges between neighboring countries, and in some areas the RMB had replaced the local currency as the major currency.

On May 6, in order to support the construction of the Yunnan gateway, the central government formally approved an official document supporting Yunnan province to accelerate the opening up of the southwest to increased cross-border commerce.

This week's roundtable workshop is evidence the Yunnan financial industry is also actively creating a cross-border commerce strategy, seizing the opportunity to highlight the advantages and accelerate the development of such trade, achieving a win-win situation for all involved.