Barclays signs another deal with China Development Bank to strengthen international cooperation between them.

State-owned China Development Bank has partnered with UK banking giant Barclays in a deal that will promote "strategic cooperation on business activities."

The memorandum of understanding, signed in Beijing, replaces the previous MoU signed between the two institutions in 2007. The new deal defines the cooperation framework and scope for both companies to assist each other globally in areas of training and development, corporate and investment banking and retail and business banking. The partnership also includes cooperation with regard to business opportunities in Africa, where a growing number of Chinese state-backed companies have been setting up. 

The 2007 agreement was signed after CDB acquired a 3.1 stake in Barclays to help finance the UK bank's eventually unsuccessful takeover bid for ABN Amro. This shareholding has since been down to a little over 1 per cent.