Yuan settlement

Hu Xiaolian: Yuan settlement in cross-border trade experienced rapid development in 2010. China's currency, the renminbi, is more widely used in cross-border trade, financing of overseas projects, overseas direct investment and foreign direct investment. This kind of development conforms to the market demand.

Development of yuan settlement in cross-border trade needs some conditions, including full convertibility of the yuan under the capital account. And while this is an important condition, it's not an absolutely necessary one. Convertibility of the yuan under the capital account is still in progress in China, and full convertibility has yet to be completed.

Convertibility is our target and needs to be advanced. On the other hand, we believe market demand of yuan settlement in cross-border trade will grow, so the convertibility and cross-border use can promote each other. We think that when convertibility is improved it will help expand yuan settlement in cross-border trade. We also think that further development of the yuan settlement in cross-border trade will promote convertibility under the capital account.

Various aspects contribute to progress being made in the convertibility process.

We believe in the next five years there will be significant progress for the yuan's full convertibility under the capital account, but there is no detailed schedule now.