“The Committee has already helped implement cross-border projects worth more than $10 billion. The RDIF and CIC have also invested through the RCIF in a number of projects independently,” the Russian wealth fund said in a statement after the talks.

At the same time Russia’s sovereign wealth fund together with the RCIF and the investment fund for Guangdong province, Guangdong Utrust Investment Holdings, agreed on key terms to set up $1 billion fund. The body, dubbed the Russian-Chinese Greater Bay Area Fund, is aimed at strengthening mutual trade and economic ties between companies from the two states. It will also promote Russian business in Guangdong, the Chinese province that accounts for the biggest share of the country’s GDP, and encouraging local companies to enter the Russian market.

“This fund creates great opportunities for Russian companies,” Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, said. “Cooperation between RDIF, RCIF and Guangdong Utrust is developing steadily, and I am confident that we are moving in the right direction towards large-scale joint projects that will serve to further strengthen the partnership between Russia and China.”

China is Russia’s largest trade partner, with the volume of trade exceeding $100 billion in 2018 and expected to double in five years. In recent months, Beijing and Moscow have also been working to boost mutual trade in their national currencies, the ruble and the yuan, as they move to lessen dependence on the US dollar.