By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing

China?s main sovereign wealth fund will invest $1bn with its Russian counterpart, giving the Russian Direct Investment Fund its first capital commitment since it was established in June.

The agreement was signed in Beijing on Tuesday at a meeting between Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, who is in China for his first overseas visit since announcing his intention to reclaim the Russian presidency next year.

China Investment Corp and RDIF will both contribute $1bn to a new Russia-China Investment Fund, which is also hoping to raise an additional $2bn from other Chinese investors.

The new Sino-Russian fund will be managed primarily by the RDIF and is required to make at least 70 per cent of its investments in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. The new fund plans to announce its first direct investment within six months.

Kirill Dmitriev, RDIF?s chief executive, told the Financial Times that the new fund would concentrate on agriculture, consumer products and green energy, rather than natural resources or real estate. ?All of the investments we make will be in companies or projects that benefit the Russian and Chinese economic relationship,? he said. ?This is a vote of confidence for Russia and for RDIF less than four months after our launch.?

Mr Wen and Mr Putin did not, however, appear to make any progress on long-running negotiations over a pipeline and potential gas sales from Russia to China, which have dragged on for years. The $1bn co-investment is one of the largest commitments by the CIC, which controls more than $400bn, to a single investment manager and highlights the Chinese fund?s growing interest in non-Western markets.

While Lou Jiwei, CIC chairman, has previously spoken of the rich opportunities for Chinese investors in Russia, the fund has shown little interest in its northern neighbour until now, having made only a handful of real estate investments and taken a small stake in Russia?s VTB Bank for $100m.

China and Russia signed a number of other agreements as part of Mr Putin?s visit, almost all of them between state-owned enterprises from the two countries.

? The Financial Times Limited 2011