Aim to strengthen direct investment in both countries

The China Development Bank (CDB), the largest state development bank of the People's Republic of China, and DZ BANK have reached a strategic cooperation agreement. The agreement was signed today in Berlin by Zheng Zhijie, President of CDB, and Wolfgang Kirsch, Chief Executive Officer of DZ BANK, in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang. The main objective of the cooperation is to strengthen German investments in China and Chinese investments in Germany. Additional focus is to be placed on supporting the corporate clients from the SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) sector in the respective countries.

The agreement encompasses four main cooperation areas:

• Financing Chinese enterprises in Germany and German enterprises in China
• Trade finance and ECA-backed export finance
• Project finance, particularly in the areas of energy and infrastructure
• Cooperation in Capital Markets Products

"The People's Republic of China is meanwhile the largest trading partner of our country. The strategic cooperation between CDB and DZ BANK will contribute towards further intensifying the economic relations. China is an important market particularly for many of our corporate clients from the SME sector. The cooperation with CDB will enable us to offer them even better access to this market", says Wolfgang Kirsch, Chief Executive Officer of DZ BANK.