DUSHANBE -- Tajikistan's central bank said Friday that it had signed a currency swap agreement worth about 3. 2 billion yuan ($500 million) with China's central bank.

The agreement was signed here Thursday during a meeting between Jamshed Nurmahmadzoda, chairman of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) and Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

The deal lasts for three years, and can be extended upon agreement by both sides, the NBT said in a statement on its website.

The agreement, said the NBT, aims to support the balance of international payments, the exchange rate of the national currency, enhancement of energy, agrarian mining sectors and development of small and medium-sized enterprises in Tajikistan.

To promote international use of the yuan, China has signed currency swap agreements with more than 20 countries and regions since the onset of the global financial crisis in late 2008.