Three integration unions with Russian participation, BRICS, SCO, and the EAEU, should adopt joint policies on the use of digital currencies, according to a top representative of one of them. He also believes the international organizations should develop a new payment system with its own bank cards.
BRICS, SCO, and EAEU May Launch Common Payment Card System
BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) can issue a common payment card, the Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, Mikhail Myasnikovich, has stated and elaborated:
We invite our colleagues from the SCO and BRICS to pool our resources. I am talking about the joint approaches to the use of digital currencies and the launch of the common payment card system. We already have appropriate solutions.
Myasnikovich was speaking during the second edition of the Eurasian Economic Forum in Moscow on Wednesday and was quoted by the Belta news agency. The Belarusian heads the EAEU’s executive body since 2020. The Commission is responsible for implementing decisions and upholding the organization’s treaties.
The EAEU official also pointed out that the share of settlements in national currencies between its members already stands at around 80%. The estimate comes after Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin recently revealed that 70% of settlements between Russia and China are already conducted in ruble and yuan.
The transition to payments in national fiats, part of Moscow’s ‘de-dollarization’ push, has been a major task for the Russian Federation and its allies amid heightened geopolitical tensions with the West and unprecedented sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
BRICS, which unites five of the largest emerging economies, was formed in 2006 as an alternative to the Group of Seven (G7) format comprising the most advanced economies. According to research published in March, BRICS has already become the world’s largest bloc by share of global gross domestic product (GDP).
SCO is the world’s largest regional organization, in terms of territory and population, which functions as an economic, political, and defense alliance. The EAEU was established in 2014 by Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia and added two other former Soviet republics, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, as members in 2015.
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