BEIJING -- Israel is to loan China $300 million for high-tech water-saving agricultural projects, according to an agreement signed Wednesday by both countries' finance ministers.

The loan will support the water saving programs in five provinces and autonomous regions in western China including Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang.

Yuval Shteinitz, Israeli Finance Minister, said the agreement is expected to introduce Israeli advanced water saving technologies to boost the agricultural development in western China.

Since the first bilateral agreement on financial cooperations signed in 1995, Israel has promised China concessional loans totaling $1.3 billion and about 240 loan programs have come into force in China, mainly in the sectors of public health, education, water treatment and communication.