SHANGHAI — Regional economic integration will help boost the opening-up of finance and create more space for the development of financial institutions, according to participants at a sub-forum during the ongoing China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai.

Wang Bingnan, vice-minister of commerce, said China has played an active part in regional economic integration while firmly safeguarding the multilateral trading system.

China has signed 19 free trade agreements (FTAs) with 26 countries and regions, and its trade volume with FTA partners accounts for nearly 35 percent of its total foreign trade, Wang said at the sub-forum on regional integration. This was held at the fourth Hongqiao International Economic Forum on Nov 5, an event of the CIIE.

According to Wang, China will open up to the outside world at a higher level, actively promote regional economic integration, provide a bigger market and more opportunities for the region and the world, and push economic globalization toward a more open, inclusive, balanced and win-win direction.

In recent years, China has continued to open up its financial sector in an orderly manner. Restrictions on foreign ownership in banking, securities and fund management have been completely removed, and the two-way opening of the capital market continues to expand, said the vice-governor of the People's Bank of China, Chen Yulu.

China will continue to improve the pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list management system, make opening-up more systematic and institutional, make policies more transparent and predictable and enhance the capacity of the financial sector to serve the real economy and regional economic and trade cooperation, he added.

The financial cooperation and opening of regional economic integration need high-quality news and information and the active performance of various media and information institutions, said Zhou Zongmin, deputy editor-in-chief of Xinhua News Agency.

While upholding the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, Xinhua is willing to work with all parties and leverage its strengths in news releasing, global reporting network, national high-end think tank and financial information services to make its contribution to financial cooperation and development in regional integration, Zhou said.

Liu Jin, president of the Bank of China, said that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has created broad space for developing financial institutions and a more fair, open, stable and transparent competitive environment.

The RCEP will help China's financial industry further explore overseas markets and attract more foreign financial institutions to run businesses in China, Liu added.