23 Financial Measures with SCO Characteristics Implemented to Empower High-Level Opening-up of SCODA
On February 9, the Launching Ceremony of the Financial Policies Supporting SCO New Area & the Inauguration Ceremony of SCO Cross-Border RMB Service Center was held at the Qingdao · SCODA Pearl International Expo Center. At the meeting, the Qingdao Central Sub-Branch of the People's Bank of China, the Qingdao Branch of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and the Qingdao Bureau of Local Financial Regulation and Supervision jointly announced the Opinions on Financial Support for the Construction of the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions). The Administrative Committee of SCODA issued the Three-year Action Plan on Increasing Supply, Promoting Innovation, and Integration to Build a Comprehensive Financial Service System in SCO New Area (hereinafter referred to as the Plan) to further improve the financial support system, strengthen financial service and promote local economic and trade cooperation among SCO countries.
Zhang Xinzhu said in his speech that the release and implementation of the financial policy will provide more capital flow and a stronger financial engine to deepen its efforts to promote high-level opening-up and high-quality development. We hope that more and more financial investment institutions and enterprises will choose and join us to share development opportunities and create a better future together.
Zhou Chengjun said in his speech that the policy documents released this time defined the goals and tasks of financial support for the construction of SCODA, relevant measures, and the roadmap for the next three years. Their implementation will play an important role in accelerating the development of SCODA, strengthening connectivity between China and SCO countries, and expanding local currency cooperation among member states.
Xu Zaiyue said that he looks forward to strengthening practical cooperation with the Administrative Committee of SCODA, relevant institutions, and enterprises, and making joint efforts to facilitate the cross-border use of RMB and improve CIPS services, so as to provide basic services for regional economic and trade cooperation among SCO member states.
“The policies and measures mentioned in the Opinions, such as the integration of local and foreign currency bank settlement account system, financial services for Eurasian railway transportation documents, cross-border financing facilitation, and digital RMB, are among the leading pilot projects in the country. The 'Credit SCO' is the first cross-border credit investigation service platform between China and SCO countries.” Liu Cuili, Deputy Division Director of the International Payments Division of State Administration of Foreign Exchange Qingdao Branch, and People's Bank of China Qingdao Central Sub-branch, introduced. In addition, in order to facilitate the entry and use of foreign exchange by personnel of SCO countries, the Opinions also encourage banking institutions to set up special windows for the exchange of small currencies of relevant SCO countries in SCODA, and support qualified institutions to set up foreign currency exchange agencies and individual authorized domestic and foreign exchange agencies in SCODA.
“These financial policies and measures provide all-round and whole-process support for various business links, such as international logistics, cross-border transactions, and credit insurance, and reduce the cost of capital and time to a large extent, providing strong support for the development of a more distinctive trading industry.” said Zhang Quanwen, General Manager of the Transfar SCO (Qingdao) International Trade Co., Ltd.
At the ceremony, the Administrative Committee of SCODA signed cooperation agreements with the Research Institute of Finance of the People's Bank of China, the Qingdao Central Branch of the People's Bank of China, and the Cross-border Interbank Payment System Co., Ltd. to jointly promote the development of cross-border RMB business. A batch of Memorandum of Cooperation was signed with five financial institutions including China CITIC Bank Qingdao Branch to help build SCODA.
The SCO Cross-border RMB Service Center, which was launched concurrently, will provide market players with one-stop services such as characteristic RMB financing, international settlement, and RMB clearing based on the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Comprehensive Service Platform.
“In light of the needs of economic and trade cooperation among SCO countries, we will continue to strengthen the financial policy support, stimulate the overall quality and efficiency of financial empowerment in multiple dimensions, actively promote high-quality institutional innovation in the financial sector, build a high-quality financial system, facilitate the rational flow and efficient agglomeration of various financial factors and resources, improve the financial ecology and enhance financial strength, thus adding momentum to the building of a new platform for Belt and Road international cooperation.” Lin Changhua, Deputy Director of the Administrative Committee of SCODA, said.