RT reported that speaking at the SCO summit in Astana, Kazakhstan on July 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are increasing payments in national currencies.
Founded in 2001, the SCO is an economic and security bloc that covers most of Asia and accounts for more than 20% of global GDP. This organization includes India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and now Belarus.
Currently, 14 countries, including Egypt, are the only African country to hold the status of a dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, allowing these countries to participate in SCO events at the invitation of members.
Speaking at a meeting of the National Council of Heads, Mr. Putin noted that SCO members have increased the use of national currencies in joint transactions. The share of domestic currency in Russia's trade dealings with SCO members has reached more than half of half in the first four months of this year.
The global trend towards using national currencies in trade instead of the US dollar has gained significant momentum after Russia was cut off from the Western financial system SWIFT and froze foreign exchange reserves in 2022.
President Putin also reiterated Russia's proposal to create an independent mechanism for implementing payments within the SCO, adding that meetings between the Finance Ministers and the Governor of the Central Bank help promote trade and investment relations within the SCO.
Earlier this year, Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina noted that more and more countries were skeptical about the Western SWIFT system, after many Russian banks were cut off from this international payment system since the start of the Ukrainian conflict in 2022.
Meanwhile, Andrey Melnichenko, founder of Switzerland's world-leading fertilizer company EuroChem, told US journalist Tucker Carlson that US sanctions will eventually cost the US dollar its long-term dominance in the global economy.
In a nearly 2-hour interview published on Carlson's YouTube channel on July 3, the two discussed many issues, including Western sanctions imposed on the businessman over the Ukrainian conflict.
Mr. Melnichenko, founder of EuroChem and coal company SUEK two decades ago, was included in the list of sanctions imposed by the US and EU in 2022, along with his wife. He has also been blacklisted by other Western countries, including England and Switzerland.
Speaking about the sanctions, Mr. Melnichenko called himself a nholding victim of a bigger conflict.
The businessman also said that many so-called traditional institutions, including the world's reserve currency, will no longer exist due to Western sanctions.
According to Mr. Melnichenko, the de-dollarization process is gaining momentum globally: Currently, more than 50% of China's foreign trade transactions are paid in currencies other than the USD. Just over a decade ago, about 90% of the country's cross-border trade was conducted in greenback.
According to Mr. Melnichenko, in Russia, the USD used to be the dominant currency in import and export, but today this rate is 14%, and the same process is happening in other countries.
I think the US dollar will lose its position as the world's dominant currency. This will be one of the major consequences of the sanctions, Melnichenko said.
