TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Russian President Vladimir Putin is working with BRICS to develop a cross-border digital payment system.
“In terms of the payment system, we are collaborating with our partners from BRICS. Of course, the experience of our respective countries is needed, especially in building national digital currencies,” he said when speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday, as quoted by Antara.
He explained that Russia has implemented a pilot project for the digital payments, which includes the opening and closing of accounts, peer-to-peer and corporate transfers, as well as trade and service payments.
Putin hopes that the digital ruble can be used extensively, both by the government and the Russian people.
“I ask the central bank and the government to expedite the use of this digital ruble in daily life,” said Putin, who spoke at the plenary session with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.
The BRICS payment system, which includes BRICS Pay and Brics Bridge, is an effort by BRICS member countries initiated by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa to reduce dependence on existing international payment systems, such as SWIFT, as well as the US dollar in cross-border transactions.
Indonesia, which recently joined BRICS on January 6, has the potential to utilize this payment system for trade and investment transactions, as well as to reduce the risk of exchange rate fluctuations.
Citing Sputnik, Putin described the strong cooperation of BRICS, as demonstrated by the increased trade turnover among its member countries, which has exceeded 1 trillion US dollars.
“The joint trade turnover among our countries has exceeded US$1 trillion and continues to grow. All of these are elements of a global growth platform,” he said at the SPIEF plenary session.
“And they are based on the key principles of BRICS, namely consensus, parity, and consideration of each other’s interests,” said Putin.
He mentioned that BRICS countries are implementing large-scale initiatives, including in nuclear energy and robotics.
Putin also claimed that the share of BRICS countries in the global economy has doubled since the beginning of the century and is expected to continue growing.
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