The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), a leading bank in the UAE, has signed a deal with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to enhance partnership between the two banks as well as trade between the UAE and China.

The Memorandum of Understanding provides NBAD and ICBC a platform to build on bilateral trade and business cooperation between Asia and GCC.

Mark Yassin, senior general manager of Corporate and Investment Banking Division of NBAD, and Luo Xi, senior executive vice president of ICBC, signed the MoU on behalf of their respective institutions.

UAE-China trade is expected to grow beyond $100 billion by 2015 from $26 billion currently.

“Historically, there has always been active trade between the UAE and China, however, there has been a rapid growth in the last few years,” said Yassin.

“Continuous economic development and trade flows as well as growing demand for investment have created more demands for financial cooperation between both countries. Naturally, this lends itself to greater business opportunities for UAE and Chinese companies.”

NBAD, the most active UAE bank in the global arena, inaugurated a Hong Kong branch in December 2009 and plans to launch operations in Shanghai soon. NBAD is increasingly the conduit of business between the Arab world and the Far East.

“This is why we sought a capable partner in China and it is with pride and pleasure that we enter into this agreement with ICBC. The strategies of ICBC and NBAD complement each other and I am confident this would be a very fruitful partnership,” said Yassin. – TradeArabia News Service