by Xinhua Writer Xu Ke
BEIJING Josh Bellamy Jersey , Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The internationalization process of China's currency has made a new stride forward during the ongoing World Economic Forum annual meeting, with Beijing and Bern inking a deal to expand financial cooperation.
Under the agreement, signed Wednesday in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, China gives Switzerland an 8-billion-U.S.-dollar investment quota under its Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program, and the two sides plan to open a Chinese bank in Zurich for future RMB clearance.
With China having become a leading economy and trading power, the RMB's cross-border settlement has been surging. Official figures show that the volume shot up from an equivalent of 580 million dollars in 2009 to 1.3 trillion dollars in the first 10 months of 2014.
A report released last November by Belgium-based global payment services company SWIFT ranked the RMB as the seventh payments currency in the world. In 2011 it ranked the 21st.
China is moving steadily along the path of RMB internationalization, following a strategy described as "crossing the river by feeling the stones." So far 12 cities, including Hong Kong, London, Paris and Sydney, have officially announced the establishment of an offshore RMB center.
The benefits are clear. For Chinese banks, the process provides a strategic opportunity to follow their clients abroad and develop their international payments clearing business.
Chinese companies, especially small- and medium-sized ones, can use the RMB for cross-border trade instead of a foreign currency, thus reducing its foreign exchange costs and risks.
For foreign companies, the process will facilitate their business with more Chinese enterprises, helping increase the overall size of trade, diversify their assets, and hedge against depreciation of one currency.
Analysts described the path of the RMB internationalization as a three-phase process: using the currency first for trade, then for investment and in the longer term as a reserve currency.
The development of the RMB in the first and second stages has grabbed the attention of the financial community worldwide, but some strategic actions are still needed to drive the internationalization process.
More liberal policies and less restrictions are needed to create more transparent and standardized frameworks for RMB payments and investments, so as to foster a more favorable regulatory environment.
Improvement of domestic financial markets also marks a crucial part in the internationalization of the RMB, which means China needs to build a more open and larger financial market with a richer variety of products.
The internationalization of a country's currency keeps pace with the same process of the country's banking system. Given that, the Chinese banks, with five rated as the world's top 20 financial institutions, should consider how to better play their role.
The international usage of the RMB is still in its early days, but in the long run it helps diversify and improve the global reserve system, which is currently dominated by a volatile U.S. dollar.
by Mahmoud Fouly
CAIRO, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Sameh, a man in his 30s, was wearing a white traditional garment and holding a flag of Egypt in his hand while heading to iconic Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo to express his happiness and excitement on the eve of the opening of Egypt's "New Suez Canal."
"I am very happy because tomorrow is the opening of the New Suez Canal. All Egypt is happy for this great event," the man told Xinhua while waving the flag in his hand, expressing support and gratitude for President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi who ordered the project to be completed in one year.
Sameh is one of many Egyptians who seemed happy and excited as the countdown is ticking for the opening of the new waterway on Thursday, while Egyptian streets and squares are preparing for the event by flags of Egypt, posters of Sisi and the new canal's logo as well as long lines of colored lights on both sides.
Sisi gave the go-ahead signal for the national "New Suez Canal" project on August 6 last year. The project, which is 100-percent completed, includes a newly-dug 35-km waterway alongside the original 190-km Suez Canal, plus a 37-km expansion and deepening of some parts of the old one.
In Al-Manial Street leading to ornamented Tahrir Square, Nasser, owner of a small bamboo chair store, hung a poster of Sisi on the wall of his store, saying the "respectful" president managed to put the country on the track of development and economic progress.
"I am very optimistic that the New Suez Canal will bring all goodness and prosperity to Egypt and will reassure a bright future for our children," the man told Xinhua, hoping Egypt will be the best country in the world "as it deserves."
The Interior Ministry distributed flags of Egypt and congratulatory cards to masses of random Egyptian citizens to make them share the celebration of the opening of the project.
Meanwhile, a lot of citizens and activists created a Facebook hashtag and a Twitter trend reading "Egypt rejoices" to express their happiness and eagerness about the inauguration of the new waterway.
However, Islam, a student in his 20's who was standing with two friends outside the American University in Cairo, near Tahrir Square, did not seem as excited as others as he commented briefly on the big event saying, "We will see! This is all I can say."
Egyptian officials said the new waterway is expected to increase the Suez Canal's annual ship traffic revenues from 5.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 to 13.4 billion by 2023, luring huge foreign investments and creating thousands of job opportunities.
As for Samia, a housewife in her 40s, said she does not want to exaggerate the hopes until she sees something tangible from what is said about the New Suez Canal.
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