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SCO discusses creating single payment system — secretary-general

"At the moment, work is being done to increase the share of national currencies in mutual settlements," Zhang Ming noted

MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is considering creating a single internal payment system, Secretary-General of the organization Zhang Ming said in an interview with Izvestia.

"The discussion on creating a single payment system is currently in progress in an informal format. At the moment, work is being done to increase the share of national currencies in mutual settlements. In 2022, the Samarkand Summit was successfully held, where a concept for increasing this share was adopted. <...> Work in this area is actively progressing," he said.

In addition, a special working group with the participation of representatives of central banks and finance ministries of member states is in place, so work in this area is actively moving forward, the organization's secretary-general confirmed.

"As for non-governmental institutions, our SCO Interbank Consortium is also working on this issue. Of course, this is not an easy task. We are currently facing a number of difficulties, and much more work needs to be done on political coordination. I am confident that work in this direction will continue to make progress," he added.

Earlier, SCO Secretary General said that the transition to the free flow of capital, technology, and services is one of the basic goals of economic cooperation within the organization.

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