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Nepal mulls connecting Mir cards to its payment system — Russian Chamber of Commerce

According to Sergey Katyrin, there are problems with making payments due to Western countries' sanctions against Russia

MOSCOW, April 23. /TASS/. The Central Bank of Nepal is interested in connecting Russian Mir cards to its payment system, President of Russia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergey Katyrin told TASS following his business mission to Nepal.

"The Central Bank of Nepal expresses its readiness to organize expert consultations with Russian departments on banking cooperation, in particular on the possibility of connecting Mir cards to the payment system of Nepal," he said.

However, according to the Russian official, partners note that the volume of payments between the two countries is insignificant. That is why, economic feasibility on the first stages may be the main deterrent for the implementation of this project, Katyrin noted.

He added that there are problems with making payments due to Western countries' sanctions against Russia.

"As an option to bypass such restrictions, it is proposed to consider connecting Nepalese banks to the System for Transfer of Financial Messages of the Bank of Russia: directly or through a service bureau (the organization that officially provides access to the system through its infrastructure). It is also possible to use Indian and Chinese banks and branches Russian financial organizations in other countries, national currencies of India and China," Katyrin said.

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