LONDON, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming on Tuesday called on China and Britain to seize opportunities to advance financial cooperation.

Liu made the appeal at a dinner hosted by Britain's 48 Group Club and the China Chamber of Commerce in Britain. He said that in recent years, financial cooperation between China and Britain has enjoyed strong growth.

Liu said that financial cooperation has increasingly become a "new engine" for business cooperation between both countries.

Noting that the two countries have issued a strategic plan for financial services, Liu said this has laid a solid foundation for closer cooperation on financial supervision and business partnership.

Liu also said that bilateral financial cooperation has found a "new platform" in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

He said that recent years have seen fruitful results in financial cooperation between China and Britain on the BRI, adding that Britain was the first to apply to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the first to contribute to the AIIB special fund.

The ambassador said that the RMB internationalization has created "new opportunities" for financial cooperation between China and Britain.

Britain has always played an important role in RMB internationalization, Liu said, adding that it is only natural that London becomes the world's largest offshore RMB market outside Asia.

Amid the sluggish economic growth, rising uncertainties, and surging protectionism and unilateralism in the world, a more open and constantly growing China will bring more confidence to the world, create more opportunities for other countries, and open broader prospects for China-Britain business cooperation, he said.