China’s Transport Ministry has announced that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has ratified the performance standard of a receiver of the shipborne BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), state news agency Xinhua reports.

The move, which is key to the application of BDS in the international maritime field, also marks the first step for China’s home-grown navigation satellite system in its quest to go global, the Transport Ministry is quoted as saying.

The first BeiDou satellite was launched in 2000. China wants to expand from regional to global coverage by 2020.