China and Russia pledged to enhance communication and cooperation concerning finance, taxation and banking to deal with the global financial crisis, said a joint communiqué released Wednesday by the two countries.

The communique was a fruit of the 14th regular meeting the prime ministers of the two countries in Beijing on Tuesday. During the meeting, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin witnessed the signing of 12 agreements, including agreements on natural gas and oil.

A sub-committee on banking cooperation will be renamed as sub-committee on financial cooperation, which would cover insurance services, the communique said.

The sub-committee works under the regular prime ministers' meeting and is aimed to build trust and boost financial cooperation between the banks of the two countries.

China and Russia will work to increase the use of their own currencies in addition to the US dollar in bilateral trade, the document said.

It also stressed the role of China-Russia finance ministers' dialogue in promoting coordination on macroeconomic policy, finance and taxation as well as major international economic issues.

(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2009)