China and Russia have signed trade agreements worth $3.5bn (£2.2bn).

中国与俄罗斯两国签署价值35亿美元的贸易协议。

About 40 contracts were signed by Russian and Chinese businessmen and officials, Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Zhukov said.

The head of Russia's Gazprom, Alexei Miller¹, said a preliminary deal had also been struck on supplying 70bn cubic metres a year of gas to China.

The agreements came during the second day of a visit to Beijing by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Russia is keen to bolster²（支持） its economy, which President Dmitry Medvedev has said will decline by 7.5% in 2009.

It is keen to sell more oil and gas to China - the world's second-biggest energy user.

Mr Zhukov told reporters that the deals included two $500m loans from Chinese banks to Russian financial institutions.

One was from the China Development Bank to its Russian counterpart Vnesheconombank, while the other was from the Agricultural Bank of China to Russia's state-run VTB bank.

He said other deals included investments by Chinese firms in Russian construction facilities, but gave no details.

Currency ambition

Trade between Russia and China has risen from less than $10bn to more than $50bn annually³ over the past six years.

The heart of the relationship is Beijing's thirst for Russian energy - oil and gas make up more than half of Russian exports to China.

Earlier this year, Moscow signed a $25bn agreement to help fund a pipeline⁴ to supply oil from Siberia to China. In exchange, China was guaranteed a 20-year supply of crude oil.

However, Moscow is also keen to boost exports of machinery⁵, especially aviation（航空） equipment and nuclear power plants - though analysts⁶ say that China's appetite for Russian goods other than energy and raw materials is limited.

The countries are seeking to expand the amount of business they do in their own currencies, rather than the US dollar. However, currently only about 1% of their dealings involve roubles or yuan.