China launched on Tuesday direct trading between the yuan, its national currency, also known as the renminbi (RMB), and the Swiss franc (CHF), China Foreign Exchange Trade System said in a statement.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — "In order to promote the bilateral trade and investment between China and Switzerland…with the authorization of the People's Bank of China, the direct trading between RMB and CHF will be launched on the inter-bank foreign exchange market from November 10th, 2015, onward," the statement read.

The decision to allow direct conversion is part of China's efforts to internationalize its national currency and promote its inclusion in the so-called currency basket of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In October, an IMF spokesman told Sputnik that the financial regulator was expected to make its decision on enlarging the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) currency reserve basket to include the Chinese yuan by November.

The Chinese initiative is part of long-term strategic goals in the country to reduce the dependence of the currency on the US dollar. China has taken a series of reforms in recent months to liberalize markets, as well as to help the yuan meet SDR criterion, allowing the currency to be used in international payment and trade.

The SDR currencies together act as the international currency reserve. The value of the international reserve is currently set by the US dollar, Japanese yen, British pound and the euro.