Moscow/Astana, Kazakhstan - Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao flew to the Kazakh capital of Astana from Moscow on Wednesday for the last leg of a tour focused on China's energy ties and the global financial crisis.

The official purpose of Wen's visit is a summit meeting on Thursday and Friday of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a security grouping of central Asian states, including Russia.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will also attend. The two leaders will hold talks on the sidelines.

China and Russia's have competed for influence with other SCO members aiming to maximize their trade benefits. Both are interested in shutting out US influence in the strategic region.

In talks Tuesday, Putin and Wen discussed the future of the dollar as a transaction and reserve currency, with Putin advising the "broader use of national currencies" in bilateral trade ties.

The two country's also sealed a landmark energy deal for a long- awaited pipeline linking the two countries. It would carry a projected 300 million tons of crude from Siberia to China's market over the next 20 years.

China and Kazakhstan opened their first pipeline in 2006 to import oil directly to China across the shared border.

China is Kazakhstan's second largest trade partner. Bilateral trade volume reached 13.8 billion dollars in 2007, up 66 per cent from the previous year. (dpa)