The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the US banking giant Citi have agreed to jointly provide up to 1.5 billion USD in financing to support trade in developing Asian countries.

Under the agreement, ADB and Citi will share the risk on trade finance advanced to exporters and importers in frontier markets in Asia , ADB said in a statement issued on July 6.

The deal supports a trade finance facilitation programme launched by the Manila-based ADB in 2004, and is aimed at providing up to 1.5 billion USD in loans and guarantees up to 2013, according to the statement.

The Risk Participation Agreement comes at a time when the global financial crisis has slowed the supply of trade finance, in particular to emerging market countries, the ADB said.

Transactions under the plan can range from short-term letters of credit to maturities of up to three years.

Ensuring continued trade flows is key to helping developing countries boost economic growth and alleviate poverty, the bank said, adding that it is also forging partnerships with other financial institutions to support trade.

Earlier, ADB and the Inter-American Development Bank agreed to share access to their trade programmes to spur trade between emerging Asia and the Americas, two regions that "have done very little business until now", the statement said.

According to ADB, its trade finance programme has been expanded in the past few months to support more trade in Pakistan and Vietnam, while expanding rapidly in Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.

The programme is also scheduled to eventually cover all of central Asia./.