The U.K. government plans to sell the world’s first non-Chinese sovereign bond denominated in renminbi, to finance the nation’s foreign-currency reserves.

The issue is a “real landmark in the development of the renminbi as an international currency,” Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said today at a press conference in London after talks with Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai.

The U.K. in June became the first European nation to sign an accord with China to allow the direct exchange of the renminbi, or yuan, for British pounds. Sterling is the fifth major currency to trade directly against the yuan in Shanghai, joining the Australian and New Zealand dollars, the Japanese yen and the U.S. dollar. China is trying to strengthen commercial relations with countries including the U.K. as it seeks to expand trade.

The Bank of England will act as the Treasury’s agent for the sale, which will take place in “coming weeks and months” subject to market conditions, according to a statement on its website. The BOE invited banks to join the syndicate for the sale, which is intended to be a one-time issuance of “benchmark size.”

The yuan was set at 9.9799 per pound at 4:18 p.m. London time, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. More than 60 percent of yuan payments outside China are made in London, the U.K. Treasury said March 26, citing data from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, known as SWIFT.

Bloomberg