State-owned Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) have signed a memorandum of understanding that aims to encourage future cooperation in cross-border funding, bilateral loans, investments and trade, the BDB said on Wednesday.

The document formalizes a commitment to long-term strategic partnership between the two banks and provides for the exchange of expertise and good practices in the area of co-financing of major infrastructure projects and the implementation of joint research and analysis, the BDB said on its website.

The MoU was signed on Tuesday during the China and Central and Eastern European Countries Economic and Trade Forum in Suzhou, China.

After the signing ceremony, top BDB and ICBC officials discussed opportunities for the opening of bilateral credit lines to stimulate Bulgarian exports to China, with priority attached to  agricultural exports, as well as exports of Chinese companies to Bulgaria.

ICBC said it was ready to share know-how related to financing of small and medium-sized enterprises, which accounts for about 15% of the bank's portfolio, according to BDB. The Chinese bank also showed interest in the opening of direct credit lines to the BDB as well as taking part in future bond issues of the Bulgarian bank.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China also expressed interest to programs of national character, as well as the provision of direct credit lines of BDB and participation in future financings of Bulgarian Development Bank.

The BDB is focused on lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. Its subsidiary, the National Guarantee Fund, issues guarantees for bank loans to the non-financial sector.

The ICBC, the world’s largest bank by assets, is present in 41 countries worldwide, providing financial products and services to five million corporate customers and 465 million personal customers. In 2014, ICBC was named the “Global Bank of the Year” by The Banker, ranked in the first place among the Top 1000 World Banks by The Banker and the largest enterprise in the world among the Global 2000 listed by the US magazine Forbes.