BEIJING - The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said Thursday that the Silk Road Fund and General Electric (GE) had established a joint energy infrastructure investment platform.

The fund and GE Energy Financial Services signed a deal to create an investment platform in Beijing in November, SAFE said in a statement.

"The two sides will make joint investment in infrastructure projects in the fields of power grid, new energy, and oil and gas, in countries and regions along the Belt and Road," SAFE said.

"The cooperation between the Silk Road Fund and GE will not only boost cooperation between high-end manufacturing companies from China and the US, but also promote economic development of the regions where their investment goes," the statement said.

Designed to finance the Belt and Road Initiative, the Silk Road Fund was founded in December 2014 and is jointly backed by China's foreign exchange reserves, China Investment Corp, the Export-Import Bank of China and China Development Bank.

Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, GE was one of the first multinational enterprises to enter the Chinese market over a century ago.