Wen to push for trade agreements at SCO meeting in Kyrgyzstan

Premier Wen Jiabao is expected to make a push for economic and energy co-operation with a bloc of central Asian countries and Russia when he attends the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) summit this week.

Wen will travel to Kyrgyzstan for the 11th prime ministers' meeting of SCO member states, and then to Moscow for meetings with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and President Vladimir Putin, in a three-day trip beginning tomorrow.

The last SCO summit, held in Beijing in June, saw the six-country bloc - which also includes Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - present a united front on major international issues, with Beijing and Moscow criticised for voting against a United Nations resolution calling for stronger action against Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime.

However, analysts expect Wen to focus on energy deals and economic talks this time around, further promoting initiatives discussed during the bloc's previous meetings but not yet finalised because support from other member states, including Russia, was lacking.

Also this week, Vice-Premier Wang Qishan will travel to Russia and Kazakhstan for energy talks.

Moscow and Beijing have previously said that negotiations on a huge natural gas supply deal, which would see Russia supplying 68 billion cubic metres of gas to China each year for the next three decades, would soon enter their final stage. But an agreement is anything but guaranteed amid disagreements over pricing.