Putin, left, and Wen oversaw a raft of trade, energy and military deals [EPA]

Leaders from some of the world's most influential and energy-rich emerging nations are meeting in Beijing for the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) talks.

Wednesday's meetings are seen as part of a wider push by China and Russia to counter to US influence in Central Asia and make their own mark on global stability.

Leaders from the SCO regional security grouping, which includes China, Russia and the former Soviet Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, were holding talks on security and the economy.

Putin was also set to meet officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran who are attending Wednesday's meeting as observers.

Russia-Iran meeting

His planned meeting with Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Iran's first vice-president comes after Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that pushing for fresh sanctions against Iran on its nuclear programme, would be "counter-productive".

Washington and its European allies are pushing for tough new sanctions against Iran if it fails to answer for its nuclear programme to their satisfaction.

But Russia and China have resisted Western pressure for more sanctions.

Ahead of the SCO talks, Russia and China agreed on several new energy, trade and military deals that signalled a strengthening of ties that Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, said "helps restrain" other powers.

On the first day of his two-day visit to Beijing, Putin and his counterpart, Wen Jiabao, oversaw the signing of $3.5bn worth of business deals.

They made a pact to notify each other of missile launches and agreed on Russian gas deliveries to China as well as Russian expertise to help China construct two nuclear reactors.

'Stabilising role'

China and Russia have agreed on gas deliveries of 70 billion cubic metres a year [Reuters]

Putin described Russian-Chinese co-operation as "the most important" part of global stability.

"Our consolidated view on certain issues, our ability to co-ordinate our stance on key international developments often help calm the situation and play a stabilising role," Putin said.
 
"A shared stance of Russia and China on certain issues helps restrain some of our more hot-headed colleagues," he added.

Putin did not name who those "colleagues" might be, but Russia and China have in the past spoken out against perceived US global domination.

Russia's state-run natural gas giant Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp signed a framework agreement that could see about 70 billion cubic metres of gas a year flow from resource-rich Russia to its energy-hungry neighbour.

Igor Sechin, Putin's deputy who helped negotiate the gas deal, said Moscow and Beijing were planning to reach an agreement on the gas price later this year and sign a contract next June, before starting deliveries to China in 2014 or 2015.

Chinese media reports have said the agreement was expected to be a gas-for-loans deal similar to a $25bn oil-for-loans deal completed earlier this year, under which China was guaranteed a 20-year supply of crude oil.

Moscow and Beijing also agreed to notify each other of ballistic missile launch plans, establishing further trust between the two UN Security Council permanent members.

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