BEIJING, March 28  -- Countries along the Belt and Road should deepen financial cooperation, as financial integration is an important underpinning for implementing the Belt and Road Initiative, according to an action plan unveiled Saturday.

Those countries should make more efforts in building a currency stability system, investment and financing system and credit information system in Asia, the plan said.

With the title of Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, the plan was released Saturday by the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Commerce.

The Belt and Road Initiative was first proposed by President Xi Jinpingin 2013 to connect Asian, European and African countries more closely and promote mutually beneficial cooperation.

Countries along the Belt and Road should expand the scope and scale of bilateral currency swap and settlement and promote the opening and development of the bond market in Asia, the document said.

They should make joint efforts to establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and BRICS New Development Bank and conduct negotiations on establishing Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) financing institution.

China will support the efforts of countries along the Belt and Road and their companies and financial institutions with good credit ratings to issue renminbi bonds in China, the plan said.

"Qualified Chinese financial institutions and companies are encouraged to issue bonds in both renminbi and foreign currencies outside China, and use the funds thus collected in countries along the Belt and Road," according to the plan.

The plan added that countries should strengthen financial regulation cooperation, encourage the signing of MOUs on cooperation in bilateral financial regulation, and establish an efficient regulation coordination mechanism in the region.

Those countries should give full play to the role of the Silk Road Fund and that of sovereign wealth funds, and encourage commercial equity investment funds and private funds to participate in the construction of key projects of the initiative.

The Silk Road Fund Co. Ltd. was established in December 2014 to finance the Belt and Road Initiative.