Accra, April 11, GNA - Pan-African Bank, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, formally launched its China Desk on Monday to help facilitate international trade, infrastructure projects and investments between Africa and Asia.

The desk, which is located in Ecobank Ghana, will be manned by two employees each from Ecobank and the Bank of China and offer on-hand business support and facilitation to Chinese businesses located on the continent.

"The alliance will make us better able to meet the needs of all Africans and Chinese seeking to do business with the continent," Mr Arnold Ekpe, Chief Executive Officer of the Ecobank Group, told guests at the launch.

Mr Ekpe said the Desk would offer a full range of banking services to Ghanaians, Africans and the Chinese as it allowed the two continents to overcome the language and the cultural barriers. He said Ecobank would systematically roll out the services in its other branches on the continent once the challenges of the pilot were dealt with.

Mr Albert Essien, Executive Director, Corporate Banking, said the pact would allow the Bank of China to cater for their clients in Africa using the Ecobank platform, while it also enabled Ecobank to grow its China business.

He said the Ecobank would leverage on its wide regional coverage to ensure that Africa got the full benefit of the relationship. Mr Gao Wenzhi, Economic Counsellor Chinese Embassy in Ghana, expressed the hope that the opening of the Desk would further deepen the relationship between China and Africa.

Ms Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry, said the cooperation between the two banks was not just symbolic but a consolidation of the relationship between the two countries. 11 April 11