Chinese 100 yuan banknotes are seen in a counting machine at a bank in Beijing on March 30, 2016. (Photo: Agencies)

BEIJING - China has extended its Renminbi (RMB) Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) program to Netherlands, with a quota of 50 billion yuan ($7.3 billion), the central bank said Wednesday.

The inclusion of the Netherlands into the RQFII program is an important sign showcasing expanded financial cooperation between the two countries. It is conducive to advancing bilateral trade and investment facilitation, the People's Bank of China said in an online statement.

The move will also expand channels for foreign investors to allocate RMB assets and further open up the country's domestic financial market, the statement said.

The RQFII mechanism was launched in 2011 to widen investment channels for overseas yuan funds on the Chinese mainland, allowing those that qualify to invest in China's securities market within a permitted quota. It aims partly to increase the international use of the RMB.

China aims to further open up its financial sector for overseas investors. In the first four months of this year, the country approved $24 billion of quotas for 12 RQFII investors, more than half of the total quota in 2018.