SYDNEY, Dec. 3-- The successful negotiation of the Free Trade Agreement between China and Australia will boost their bilateral economic and trade exchanges, Shanjun Hu, general manager of Bank of China, Australia told Xinhua on Tuesday.

With this trend, the yuan will be used as much as the Australian dollar in trade, investment and finance between the two countries, and will even become a reserve currency in the near future, Hu said.

He said Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Australia in November is a historic one and the conclusion of the free trade agreement negotiation will bring enormous business opportunities in Australia.

On Nov.18, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank appointed Bank of China, one of the country's big four lenders, to clear yuan transactions in Sydney, Australia. In 2014 alone, China has reached agreements with Germany, Britain, France, Luxembourg, South Korea and Canada to open local RMB trading centers.

So far, Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, London, Singapore, Frankfurt, Paris, Luxembourg, Seoul, Doha, Toronto and Sydney, a total of 12 cities have officially announced the establishment of an offshore RMB center. Hu said Sydney's status as an international financial center and an important offshore RMB center in the Asia-Pacific region is rising rapidly.

Meanwhile, in an effort to enhance the RMB internationalization, Bank of China as joint lead manager together with ANZ Bank helped the Australian New South Wales Government Treasury Corporation successfully issue an offshore RMB 1 billion RMB bond on Nov. 19. This is the first issuance of an offshore RMB bond by an Australian government instrumentality.

By geographic distribution, 24 percent of the total order came from Australia, 44 percent from the Asia-Pacific region, and 32 percent from Europe and other regions. Hu said the investor profile shows that the RMB bond market has gradually emerged in Oceania and also indicates a positive outlook for the RMB bond market in Pan-Pacific region.

Hu noted that this successful offshore RMB bond issuance reflects the high recognition of the RMB internationalization process by Australian governments and the Australian market while the enthusiastic participation of international investors demonstrates the positive affirmation accorded Bank of China's RMB capability by the market and the industry.

He also believed that this success story will promote other Australian state governments to consider similar bond issuance, while driving the interest in the offshore RMB market from the Australian local companies and Chinese companies investing in Australia.

Nowadays, China has been Australia's largest trading partner, largest export destination, largest source of imports, largest source of foreign students, and largest consumer base of overseas travelers. Hu reckoned that these five "largest" will all have positive and vigorous impacts on Australia.

Meanwhile, the Australian economy has maintained positive growth, making it a relatively safe and stable market for China. Thus, the development of RMB internationalization between China and Australia is undoubtedly a win-win situation.

From a global perspective, Hu said, the influence of yuan is growing bigger and bigger. Yuan has become the second largest currencies in trade after the U.S. dollar, and the seventh largest trading currencies.

"The trend of RMB Internationalization is irreversible," he said, while stressing that the Australian offshore RMB market as an important area to participate in this trend will inevitably have broad prospects.

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