HONG KONG, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Xinjin Investment Holding, an investment platform backed by the China International Trust Investment Corporation (CITIC) Group, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on strategic cooperation with Japanese trading house Itochu Corporation on Friday to jointly ramp up investment in businesses in high-end manufacturing, information and other promising industries around the world.

Xinjin Investment Holding and Itochu will set up Xinjin Global Industrial Fund as a platform to strengthen overseas investment, according to the cooperative document.

The fund aims to raise two billion U.S. dollars in three phases, with the initial phase of 500 million dollars. The fund will focus on advantageous industries in developed markets such as Japan, the United States and European countries.

The fund targets companies in advanced manufacturing, consumer sector, information technology, business services, and healthcare that possess unique technologies, brand value and stable operating performance.

As one of the largest trading company in Japan, Itochu attaches great importance to the cooperation and hopes to invest in more quality projects to realize mutual benefits, said Tatsushi Shingu, executive officer of Itochu Corporation.

Shingu also expects the cooperation to serve as a bridge that helps bring more overseas excellent companies to the Chinese market.

Hu Bin, executive director of Xinjin Investment Holding, said that the cooperation will adopt a market-oriented operation mode and promote multi-level economic cooperation and technological integration.

CITIC Group introduced Itochu as a strategic investor in 2015, and the two sides since then have cooperated in various fields such as medical care, resources, and energy. A fund was set up by the two sides to invest in China's Internet data centers earlier this year.