China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation Limited (CSDC) and Bank of Communications (BOC) signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Beijing on 17^th May 2013. CSDC Party Committee Secretary and General Manager Zhou Ming and BOC Party Committee Secretary Niu Ximing were present at the signing ceremony. 

     Under the agreement, CSDC and the Bank of Communications will carry out all-around cooperation in financing , fund settlement, bond business, fund business, and asset management. The two parties hold that both CSDC and the Bank of Communications play a significant role in their respective business fields, with CSDC serving as one of the most systemically important infrastructures of the Chinese capital market and the Bank of Communications, with a history of more than one hundred years, being the first state-owned joint-stock commercial bank listed in both the A-share and H-share markets. Therefore, both shoulder the profound historical mission of promoting the innovation in and maintaining the stability of the financial and capital markets, and supporting the transformation and development of the real economy. 

     The signing of this strategic cooperation agreement is an important step to promote the spirit of the 18^th CPC National Congress and to implement the work arrangement made on the Executive Meeting of the State Council. It also signals an all-around and multi-level strategic partnership between the two parties. Starting with this agreement, both parties will make joint efforts to give full play to their advantages in resources, innovations and services, provide better services for their customers, enhance financial innovation and risk control capabilities, promote the reform and development of the financial and capital markets, and contribute more to the transformation and development of the real economy.