Efforts to transition to trade in national currencies in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization can no longer be stopped, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. During a meeting with his colleagues in India, Moscow’s top diplomat also discussed the similar initiative within BRICS.
To achieve that, Lavrov believes participants can apply practices that are being formed in the Eurasian Development Bank, the Asian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the New Development Bank established by the BRICS bloc.“All this was discussed. All of this is very relevant. All this is now being considered by the relevant departments, ministries of finance, central banks,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by the Tass news agency.
The topic has been also discussed at the SCO meeting, including the creation of “some kind of aggregated currency” which, in Lavrov’s words, cannot be ruled out either. “The main thing now is to consider practical issues that will make it possible to protect the cooperation of independent states,” he said, accusing the West of abusing its position in the global economy and the reserve currency status of the U.S. dollar and the euro.