June 16 (Bloomberg) -- China offered to lend Central Asian nations $10 billion to help them weather the global recession, joining Russia in seeking greater influence in the region through aid.

Chinese President Hu Jintao announced the credit for member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization at the regional alliance’s annual summit today in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The group is comprised of China, Russia and the four former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

“China will provide $10 billion of credit support to help SCO member states counter the impact of the international financial crisis,” Hu said. Russia in February pledged $7.5 billion to a regional fund it created to help Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is hosting back-to-back summits of developing economies in Yekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains that divide Europe and Asia, as he seeks to lessen the world economy’s dependence on the U.S. dollar. Medvedev and Hu will hold talks later today with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the first summit of so-called BRIC nations.

Hu called for greater coordination among Shanghai members on monetary policy, including regular meetings of finance ministers. China owns the world’s largest dollar stockpile, almost $2 trillion, while Russia is third with more than $400 billion.

‘Supranational Currency’

Medvedev today reiterated Russia’s intention to push for the creation of a “supranational currency” to replace the U.S. dollar and encouraged China and the other Shanghai group members to use each other’s money in bilateral trade.

“There can be no successful global currency system if the financial instruments that are used are denominated in only one currency,” Medvedev said. “Today this is the case and the currency is the dollar.”

Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on June 13 that the dollar’s “fundamental indicators” are “fine” and that he was confident in the currency’s strength. A week earlier, Medvedev said the dollar isn’t in “a spectacular position” and questioned its future as a global reserve currency.

Medvedev’s top economic aide Arkady Dvorkovich said today that the positions of Medvedev and Kudrin aren’t contradictory and that the Russian government is united on its dollar policy.

“In the long term, it is beneficial for all and all agree that the world needs a few strong currencies,” Dvorkovich told reporters in Yekaterinburg. “It cannot happen quickly.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Lyubov Pronina in Moscow at lpronina@bloomberg.netAlex Nicholson in Moscow at anicholson6@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 16, 2009 03:57 EDT