CHINA and Russia pledged Tuesday to settle more bilateral trade in yuan and rouble and to enhance cooperation between banks, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said, as Moscow seeks to cushion the effects of Western economic sanctions.

    Shuvalov told reporters in Beijing that he had agreed to an economic cooperation pact with China’s Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli that included boosting use of the rouble and yuan for trade transactions.

    The pact also lets Russian banks set up accounts with Chinese banks, and makes provisions for Russian companies to seek loans from Chinese firms.

    “We are not going to break old contracts, most of which were denominated in dollars,” Shuvalov said through an interpreter.

    The quest to limit the dollar’s dominance became more urgent for Moscow this year when U.S. and European governments slapped sanctions on Russia to penalize the country for supporting separatist rebels in Ukraine.

    Washington and Brussels have excluded Russia’s state banks and top energy firms from capital markets, applying measures that mean even companies not blacklisted will struggle to raise large loans outside their domestic markets.

    Chinese firms’ proposals to invest in more than 30 projects in Russia were also discussed, Shuvalov said. The projects, some of which were valued at several hundred million dollars, included building roads and bridges, resource development, agricultural production and transportation facilities, he added.

    Zhang will visit Moscow in October for further talks on bilateral cooperation, particularly in the traditional energy sector, Shuvalov said.

    (SD-Agencies)