China should set up a specific State-run fund dealing with trade finance in order to beat decreasing trade volumes, which have been hit hard by the global financial crisis, a senior executive of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.

Zhao Xiaoyu, vice-president of the ADB, suggested that China set up a "trade finance fund" that could cooperate with multilateral financial institutions to finance companies in the imports and exports business during an interview with China Daily last week.

"If a State-run fund is set up, it may cooperate with multinational financial institutions, including the ADB, to jointly provide guarantees for trading firms in applying for loans from banks," Zhao said.