CHINA and Tajikistan signed three project cooperation and financing agreements during a business forum running alongside the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit yesterday.

The Export-Import Bank of China struck two deals with Tajikistan offering preferential bank loans for two infrastructure projects.

The bank will help fund construction and repair on a highway linking Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

It also agreed to extend loans to build power transmission lines in Tajikistan.

The deals follow up on a Chinese government promise to offer US$900 million worth preferential loans to fund infrastructure projects in the economies represented by the organization.

China has offered 60 million yuan (US$7.5 million) of free assistance for constructing the Tajik-Uzbek highway, Feng Zhenglin, Chinese vice minister of communications, told the business forum.

Also yesterday, Tebian Electric Apparatus Stock Co, a Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region-based equipment manufacturer, signed a deal with Tajikistan's state power company to build high-voltage power transmission facilities.

The value of the contracts was not disclosed yesterday.