Tehran Wants Payments in National Currencies in BRICS to Increase


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran expects the shift to payments in the national currencies within BRICS to step up during Russia’s chairmanship of the bloc, Iran's deputy foreign minister for economic diplomacy said.

Mehdi Safari made the remarks at the meeting of Sherpas and sous-Sherpas of BRICS countries held in Moscow.

"As far as 2024 is concerned, we hope that the economic and financial direction of cooperation, in particular, the issues of the banking sector, payment instruments, cancellation of cross-national currency and the use of national currencies will be settled," he said, TASS reported. 

The Iranian side plans to participate actively in BRICS events this year, the diplomat added.

"We are also ready to work on all necessary solutions and documents for the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan in October," he noted.

Five new members (Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia) formally became full-fledged members of the BRICS group and commenced joint work in that capacity on January 1 under the chairmanship of Russia, which takes over from outgoing chair South Africa.

BRICS was founded in 2006 and initially included Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa joined the intergovernmental organization in 2011.