The Shanghai municipal government on Tuesday released plans for establishing a  pilot zone for Silk Road e-commerce cooperation with a focus on promoting cross-border yuan settlement, in another concrete step to advance cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The State Council approved the establishing of a pilot zone for Silk Road e-commerce cooperation in East China's Shanghai, according to a circular released on October 23. The circular urged Shanghai to exert a leadership role in making breakthroughs in reform and opening-up, aligning with high-standard international economic and trade rules, and exploring institutional innovation.

The plan listed 19 major tasks aimed focusing on expanding the opening-up of the e-commerce sector, creating a pioneering environment, and vigorously promoting international and regional exchanges and cooperation.

By 2025, Shanghai aims to establish a series of exemplary institutional open achievements, gather a group of internationally competitive e-commerce entities, create a variety of distinctive regions, and build public service platforms that promote the common development of Silk Road e-commerce partner countries.

To further expand the opening-up of the e-commerce sector, Shanghai will expand international data services, promote international standards and identification of electronic documents, and facilitate cross-border yuan settlement for Silk Road e-commerce cooperation.

To promote international and regional exchanges, Shanghai will create a think tank for Silk Road e-commerce cooperation, promote the application of digital technologies such as cloud computing and big data in addition to facilitating training and exchange programs of e-commerce talent.

The pilot zone is expected to boost the high-quality development of the Belt and Road cooperation, officials said.

By establishing the pilot zone, Shanghai will leverage its advantages in e-commerce technology application, innovative business models, and market scale to foster and expand new forms and models of trade, further enhancing economic and trade cooperation with countries regions participating in the BRI, said Qiu Wenjin, vice director of Shanghai Municipal Development & Reform Commission, at a press conference on Tuesday. 

Shanghai has achieved notable results in economic and trade cooperation with BRI partner countries. In the past decade, the total import and export volume between Shanghai port and these countries reached 27.92 trillion yuan ($3.82 trillion), accounting for over one-third of Shanghai's foreign trade.