Jan. 29, 2007 (China Knowledge) – The Export Import Bank of China (Exim), one of the Mainland's three leading policy lenders, would support China in narrowing the foreign trade surplus through China’s imports, state media reported on Monday.

The bank, which was established in 1994 to finance mainly exports of large machinery and electronics, will speed up its “business transformation”, said Li Ruogu, chairman and president, to China Daily.

This is in response to a government target of reducing trade surplus as a key priority for this year in a bid to lessen frequent international trade friction.

He added that many domestic enterprises had filed applications for this service that focused on support for the purchase of key technologies, equipment and resources.

The bank had approved more than RMB 18 billion worth of import credits by the end of last year, including a US$1.5 billion framework agreement with Shenzhen Airlines for buying foreign aircraft and other equipment, the China Daily report said.