Edging closer to full entry into the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), China has signed a memorandum of understanding with the organization, reports from Guatemala City said on Monday.

The document, inked by Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, and IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno in Guatemala City on Sunday, creates a formal framework for negotiations surrounding China's accession to the IDB established for China's accession negotiations with the organization.

China's first entry application harks from 1993, and its renewal came in 2004.

According to an IDB statement, both sides will coordinate on a rapid negotiating process which, should all proceed smoothly, will see China become the bank's 48th member.

The IDB, hailing itself as the oldest and largest regional development bank in the world, was founded in 1959 to boost economic and social development.

Headquartered in Washington, the organization came into being as a partnership between 19 Latin American countries and the United States. In recent years, its catchment area has gradually increased to include some Caribbean, European and Asian countries.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2007)