UPDATE: China and Russia to sign over a dozen trade deals - a podcast by BBC World Service

President Vladimir Putin is due to begin a visit to Beijing on Friday - with the Kremlin saying that he'll sign more than a dozen trade deals with his counterpart Xi Jinping. Later in the day, Mr Putin will attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics - which is being boycotted by the United States, Canada, Australia and the UK. We hear from Chris Weafer is CEO of the investment consultancy Macro-Advisory in Moscow.

Also in the programme, the Governor of the Bank of England has told the BBC that employees negotiating their salary this year should not ask for too big a pay rise - so they can help bring inflation under control. Mr Bailey said he was concerned that rising inflation would become ingrained in the economy.

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