BEIJING, October 22. /TASS/. The Russian-Chinese free economic zone will be created in Irkutsk, East Siberia, in line with agreement signed on Thursday on the sidelines of the 7th China Overseas Investment Fair (COIFAIR-2015) in Beijing.

The deal was inked by the representatives of the Irkutsk region and the Liaoning province in China’s northeast.

"There is a free economic zone in Shenyang [in Liaoning province], a similar zone will be created in Irkutsk on the same basis," an aide to the Irkutsk region’s governor, Alexander Kopylov, said.

The free economic zone will attract a Chinese bank jointly with Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank. "Then an insurance company will be developed, and later a hotel will be built, and companies will start joining it and will open their representative offices in Irkutsk," he said.

A five-star hotel is due to be built in the city by late 2016, the official said.

The 7th China Overseas Investment Fair (COIFAIR-2015) is held in the capital Beijing on October 22-23.