GDF Suez sign finance agreement with China's

French energy group GDF Suez and China's giant ICBC bank said Thursday they had signed a non-exclusive finance cooperation agreement aimed at funding global projects, with a focus on Asia-Pacific. The deal will span the GDF Suez group's businesses, including gas, power, water, waste and energy and efficiency services, the company said in a statement Thursday. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and other Chinese banks have been aggressively expanding abroad to serve Chinese companies that are increasingly active globally. GDF Suez signed a 2.9 billion euros investment deal with Chinese sovereign wealth fund CIC Wednesday to help boost expansion in Asia-Pacific and China. "We are very pleased to enter into this agreement with ICBC as a second major step of our new partnership with CIC," said executive vice president Gerard Lamarche. "This cooperation will strongly support strategically and financially GDF Suez group's development throughout Asia Pacific and China."