ST. PETERSBURG, December 26. /TASS/. Russia is going to pay the closest attention to deepening of economic ties in CIS during its presidency in 2024 and to expanding payments in national currencies in particular, President Vladimir Putin said.

"We will naturally pay as close attention as possible to further strengthening of economic cooperation within the CIS framework. The trade turnover among our countries demonstrated steady growth in the outgoing year. According to data for ten months, it gained two percent and stood at $83.7 bln," Putin said at the opening of the CIS informal summit.

Russia "will continue working with partners in the Commonwealth in favor of a more active transition to national currencies in mutual payments," the President stressed. "We are confident this will make it possible to more reliably support economic and financial sovereignty of our countries," Putin noted.