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EAEU aware of greenback-euro risks, seeks to promote national currencies, says Russia

It is noted that the refusal to use the dollar and the euro in the EAEU is not a single process, while focused efforts in this direction have been underway since the creation of the Union

MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. The Eurasian Economic Union’s (EAEU) member states are aware of the risks of being dependent on payments in dollars and euros, therefore they are interested in using national currencies, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated in publicized comments on the results of Moscow’s diplomacy for 2022.

With that in mind, "it should be clear that it is too early to speak about fully abandoning the use of the dollar and the euro in mutual payments in the EAEU right now," the ministry noted. "Other countries of the Union have the right to use them as they will and in cases when there are no other options. Meanwhile, we see that in the current environment, our partners are perfectly aware of the risks of being dependent on the dollar and the euro and are interested in promoting national currencies," the comments read.

The refusal to use the dollar and the euro in the EAEU is not a single process, while focused efforts in this direction have been underway since the creation of the Union, the ministry noted. "We do not plan to rest on laurels, planning to boost the share of using national currencies to 85% shortly as Russian agencies suggest," according to the comments.

Among the EAEU’s fixed priorities is to ensure cross-system cooperation between national systems of the member states’ payment cards, to increase the chain of correspondent accounts of the countries’ banks and to extend the possibility of financial information exchange without using SWIFT in cross-border payments, and to develop trade in currency pairs of national currencies, the ministry added, noting that efforts are also underway to create favorable conditions for the business sector when concluding contracts in national currencies, which is aimed at reducing the share of payments in dollars between residents of the Union’s members.