China and Russia have signed trade agreements worth $3.5bn during the second day visit to Beijing by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Russian deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said near about 40 contracts were signed by Russian and Chinese businessmen and officials however no deal had yet struck on energy and still talks are been continued.

Russia is keen to bolster its economy President said economy has decline 7.5 percent in 2009. Russia is hoping to sell more oil and gas in China. China is considered to the world’s second biggest energy user. Mr. Zhukov mentioned to the 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 other was from Agricultural Bank of China to Russia’s state-run VTB bank. He added saying others deals included investments by Chinese firms in Russian construction facilities however, no further details was provided. Trade between Russia and China has risen from $10bn to $50bn over the past six years. Moscow had signed a $25bn agreement to help fund a pipeline to supply oil from Siberia to China earlier this year in exchange china was guaranteed 20-year supply of crude oil. Moscow is interested to exports machinery, aviation equipment, and nuclear power plants. Countries are seeking to expand business in own currencies rather than US dollar.