YEKATERINBURG, November 16. /TASS/. The payment card for foreign tourists can be launchedin Russia in early 2024, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dmitry Vakhrukov said.

"I hope we will start commercial operation of this system early next year. Everything depends on banks in this aspect," the official said.

Foreigners cannot now make payments by bank cards and book a hotel in Russia, Vakhrukov added. "We made the law making possible to remotely identify a tourist, give a virtual card to him, and he can receive the Mir plastic card upon arrival at an airport, if he wants so," he said.

The card can be launched in the third - the fourth quarters of 2023, Minister Maxim Reshetnikov noted earlier.