DUBAI - Nasdaq Dubai said Wednesday in an e-mailed statement it welcomed the listing of three bonds issued by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Dubai branch in the Dubai banking free zone DIFC.

ICBC, the biggest lender in China in relation to assets, listed two bonds of $400 million and $300 million respectively, as well as a bond of 500 million euros (about $559 million).

The listings, the exchange said, "underline the expansion of the bank's activities across the region as well as the growing financial relationship between Dubai and China."

A total of five ICBC bonds are now listed on the exchange, following the listings of a $500 million bond in May 2015 and a $400 million bond in June 2016.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations over 30 years ago, China-UAE bilateral trade has grown from $63 million in 1984 to $54.8 billion in 2014 and is estimated to reach $60 billion by the end of 2016, according to UAE official data.

More than 4,000 Chinese firms operate in the UAE where over 300,000 Chinese citizens reside in. The UAE government supports China's strategic transcontinental Belt and Road Initiative.

ICBC was in October 2008 the first Chinese lender which set up a branch in the DIFC, the biggest financial free zone in the Middle East and North Africa. Nasdaq Dubai is a licensed market of the DIFC.