The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Austria Bank GmbH officially opened for business in Vienna on Tuesday local time.

"With the opening of ICBC Austria, ICBC will play its role as a financial bridge and help Chinese enterprises better understand Austria and invest in key areas, such as advanced manufacturing, energy conservation and environmental protection, technological innovation, winter sports industry and other new areas of growth," said Chen Siqing, chairman of the ICBC of China.

ICBC will also provide efficient cross-border financial services for Austrian companies to enter the Chinese market, in addition to promoting pragmatic cooperation between the two countries under the Belt and Road Initiative and the cooperation mechanism between China and the Central and Eastern European Countries, he said.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz attended the opening ceremony and said cooperation has deepened continuously between Austria and China over the past few years. Located in central Europe, Austria is an export-oriented economy. Its market is an attractive choice for banks to reach Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkan market.

Official statistics show the bilateral trade volume between China and Austria hit a record high of $9.75 billion in 2018, up 16.2 percent year-on-year. Direct investment of Chinese enterprises in Austria was $190 million last year, bringing total investment from China to Austria to $1.04 billion. Austrian enterprises directly invested $150 million in China in 2018, an increase of 53 percent year-on-year.

At present, ICBC has established 426 overseas institutions in 47 countries and regions, and its operations network indirectly covers 20 African countries by holding the shares of Standard Bank Group.

In recent years, ICBC has been actively promoting economic cooperation in countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

It has also offered loans to Belt and Road projects exceeding $100 billion.

The bank is also the initiator of the Belt and Road Interbank Regular Cooperation Mechanism to promote mutually beneficial cooperation among international financial institutions under the BRI. The IRCM now has 88 members from 45 countries and regions, including major Austrian banks.