The pilot scheme recently announced by China to settle trade outside the mainland with renminbi (RMB) can help affirm Hong Kong's position as the only international financial center linking the Chinese mainland and Asia, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Chief Executive Donald Tsang said on Monday.

Speaking at the second Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong, Tsang said the pilot scheme will make it possible to settle trade between the economic powerhouses of Guangdong province and the Yangtze River Delta and Hong Kong and Macao.

Exporters in the southern provinces of Guangxi and Yunan will also be able to settle trade payments with their trade partners in 10 ASEAN members, he added.

Tsang said RMB business is one of the fronts that authorities in Hong Kong were working on to strengthen its unique role as the gateway to the mainland.

"Through this scheme, Hong Kong will be able to increase the scope of financial services and expand its role as a financial gateway to the mainland and as a leading financial services hub in Asia," Tsang told about one thousand guests at the forum.

Hong Kong has rich experience in RMB business, which was first launched in the city in 2004, followed by the first RMB- denominated bond in 2007.

It remained the only jurisdiction outside the mainland to provide RMB banking services.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2009)