Russian Investment Fund to Strike First Non-Dollar Deals With China in 2019

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev said Wednesday that the fund was intending to start using national currencies in its transactions with China.

"The first deals will be [conducted in national currencies] in the beginning of the next year. We have an agreement with the China Development Bank on a large fund in Chinese yuans worth of $10 billion. Recently, we have launched a regional fund in Chinese yuans jointly with the Heilongjiang province. It has already started examining projects and we expect first investment in the near future," Dmitriev said at the Eastern Economic Forum.

In 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow and Beijing would xpand transactions in national currencies to reduce dependence on foreign market.

Moreover, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said last year that Russia and China were considering the possibilities of linking national payment system MIR with China's Union Pay.

The Eastern Economic Forum is one of the biggest economic forums held in Russia annually since 2015. It aims to support the accelerated development of the Russian Far East's economy as well as to strengthen ties between Russian business and international investment community. The fourth EEF is taking take place in the Russian city of Vladivostok.

READ MORE: Putin Backs Idea of Creating Russian-Chinese Fund in Yuan