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China announced a plan on Friday to build a financial center in the country's southwestern Chengdu-Chongqing area by 2025, a move an expert said will attract Belt and Road financial service facilities. The expert added that the center will become another important platform for China to carry out financial cooperation with neighboring countries.

The new plan, jointly released by the People's Bank of China, other departments and local governments, said it will build a western financial center that faces East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia, serving the joint construction of the Belt and Road, according to a report on the official website of the government of Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

The plan will promote cooperation with Singapore on green finance, build a platform for green financial services linking Chongqing, Chengdu and Singapore, and explore effective ways for cross-border cooperation in the low-carbon field.

The plan will further promote yuan's cross-border payments. It will encourage the Chengdu-Chongqing region to use yuan for settlement in foreign trade with countries and regions that are involved in the Belt and Road.

It is necessary to encourage the implementation of financial service facilities serving the Belt and Road construction and encourage the resources of the securities and insurance industry to gather in the new financial center, said Dong Shaopeng, deputy managing editor of the Securities Daily and an expert adviser for the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The new financial center will become another important platform for China to carry out financial cooperation with neighboring countries, which can reduce cooperation costs and increase cooperation convenience, Dong said.

Global Times