WASHINGTON, October 25. /TASS/. Russia's BRICS partners have given a positive assessment to its proposals to create the association's own payment system, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov told TASS. He is in Washington to participate in the autumn session of the governing bodies of the IMF and the World Bank.
"What are we proposing within the BRICS framework? We propose <...> to think about improving the current settlement mechanisms. And within the BRICS framework, we have made such proposals. Basically, we have received a positive response from our partners," the deputy minister said.
According to him, the current international payment system is outdated, it is expensive and ineffective.
"We say that this (the ideas being studied by BRICS - TASS) is an alternative payment system. In fact, everyone in the world, not only the BRICS countries, but also the G20, the IMF, everyone says that the current payment system is outdated. It is slow, expensive and ineffective," the Russian Deputy Finance Minister noted.
This opinion is shared by most countries, and it can be heard at the IMF and World Bank sessions "quite often," he said.
But Chebeskov admitted, that such "shifts in the financial infrastructure do not happen in one year."
"It still takes time, testing, piloting. But given the ongoing geoeconomic fragmentation, it is again a matter of time before such alternatives are created and used," the Deputy Finance Minister said.
He called the process of standardization and getting accustomed to something new the main obstacle to the implementation of such changes.
"We understood that there is an infrastructure that is created around some technology. Well, let's say, how horses were used to transport people. Entire industries were created to make horseshoes, to make harnesses, carriages. And everything was already <...> standardized. A huge number of horses were bred <...>. Then the car was invented. <...> A new technology, a new standard appeared. Naturally, it took some time to switch from a horse to a car. In this case, too, it will take some time. From the point of view of the technological transition, because the solutions that we offer are more technologically advanced. And from the point of view of what people are already accustomed to," the deputy minister explained.
Western opposition
Chebeskov confirmed that attempts to improve the current settlement mechanisms are actually blocked by the collective West.
"As we see in the example of development institutions, Western countries will try to maintain their competitive positions of control over financial infrastructure, financial institutions. In fact, it seems to me that this is incorrect logic on their part in the long term - we need to work together here," he noted.
The Deputy Finance Minister recalled that "the countries that were previously called developing countries have already outgrown the developed countries in terms of the size of their economies."
"It is impossible to stop and limit this growth. If this growth is not possible within the financial infrastructure of Western countries that they [at one time] created, then we will create our own infrastructure. This is absolutely obvious. But Western colleagues are trying to maintain their competitive advantage, maintain ownership of this infrastructure, maintain the distribution of capital quotas in development institutions. They hold on to this because, in addition to control, it also provides political influence, which is used as a political weapon. It is very difficult for them to give this up," the Deputy Finance Minister said.
Chebeskov drew attention to the fact that the declaration released after the BRICS summit in Kazan contains points concerning payment and financial infrastructure, the stock market, and reinsurance companies.
"In general, within the framework of our presidency, we touched upon the global issue of transforming and improving the international monetary and financial system. And we hit the nail right on the head. <...> This is a very pressing issue. Yes, not everyone agrees with our conclusions. But everyone agrees that this is a key issue to which we all need to find answers together. It was our task to raise this topic in order to start discussing obvious things now," Chebeskov stressed.
The modernization of the payment system, he noted, "will occur evolutionarily."
"We are not proposing any revolutions here, we are not proposing not to use anything. We always say that we are offering complementary alternative solutions. There is a positive reaction to them, which is reflected in the declaration adopted in Kazan," the Deputy Finance Minister added.