Providing more assistance for development projects through co-financing and stronger linkages with the private sector will be among the key thrusts of the ADB-AFD Partnership Framework Agreement for 2010-16, together with new research and knowledge-based activities.

ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda and AFD chief executive officer Jean-Michel Severino signed in Manila on Monday an agreement building on a previous memorandum of understanding the two sides signed in 2003.

Kuroda pointed out that the close partnership forged by ADB and AFD has grown in strength and expanded into new areas since they first collaborated on rural development and educational projects in Viet Nam in 1997.

"We have jointly co-financed 39 operations, 31 in the public sector and eight in the private sector, with total co-financing commitments of around $2.3 billion by ADB and around $900 million by AFD," he said.

"The opportunities for furthering our partnership are substantial, both in terms of scope and areas for collaboration, and we look forward to exploring them together."

Severino said: "This renewed partnership framework agreement lifts our partnership to a higher level of ambition and gives it a new strategic direction.

"Concentrating on key issues of common concern for Asia, such as climate change and inclusive growth, it expresses a strong commitment by both institutions to be more performance – and results-oriented."

The agreement sets the principles of collaboration between the two sides for the next six years within the overarching strategic framework of each organisation.

Areas to be given priority attention include climate change, infrastructure development, protection of public goods, including preservation of bio-diversity, promotion of social and environmental responsibility, and emergency assistance to countries affected by war and disaster.