BEIJING (REUTERS) - China's Shanghai Stock Exchange, the China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX) and the country's foreign exchange trading operator formally agreed to establish joint ventures with Germany's Deutsche Boerse AG in Germany on Thursday.

The agreement was signed in Beijing at a ceremony overseen by Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and China's Premier Li Keqiang, the foreign exchange operator said on its website.

Plans were announced in May for the deals, which will help promote the internationalisation of the yuan by giving foreign investors additional access to yuan-denominated financial products traded in Germany.

Beijing is moving quickly in the run-up to a meeting of the International Monetary Fund to decide whether to include the yuan in its basket of reserve currencies, which would provide a boost to the currency's global status.

One of the complaints of opponents of yuan inclusion is that it is too difficult for foreign investors to get their hands on yuan-denominated financial products outside of China due to long-standing capital account restrictions.

China's foreign exchange operator will establish a 50-50 joint venture with Deutsche Boerse, and the German exchange will also establish a three-way venture with the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the CFFEX, to be called the "China Europe International Exchange." Sources told Reuters in September that Deutsche Bourse would delay its planned Asian derivatives exchange and clearing house by about 18 months due to financial turbulence in China and software glitches in its clearing system.