MOSCOW, October 16. /TASS/. The work on creation of the BRICS single payment system is underway, though it will not be public, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large and Russia’s sous-sherpa, or under-sherpa, in charge of preparing for BRICS meetings Pavel Knyazev told TASS.

"This is a very serious and comprehensive issue, with the discussion of this subject being held through finance ministries and central banks. The issue is not simple, of course," he said, adding that "many BRICS member states favor this," and that "the trend of de-dollarization in payments is expanding."

"Apart from seeing it in the Russian side’s trade with partners, we also clearly see the same trend in trade between, say, China and Saudi Arabia, between China and Brazil," the diplomat said. "We know that payments between China and Argentina in yuan, for example, are on the rise. There are also examples in India’s payments as well," he noted.

"Naturally, this is challenging work that probably brooks no fuss and excessive publicity," he said, adding that it is "being held through finance ministries and central banks within the framework of their dialogue and cooperation mechanisms."