More than 97% of Russia's transactions with SCO countries are already conducted in national currencies

The share of settlements in national currencies in Russia’s mutual trade with the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) exceeded 97%. Vladimir Padalko, Deputy Chair of the Russian Federation’s National Section of the SCO Business Council, announced this at the 27th meeting of the SCO Business Council’s Executive Board.

According to him, Russia views the development of cooperation within the SCO as one of the priority areas of its foreign economic policy.

“Today, Russia’s trade turnover with SCO member states exceeds $400 billion and continues to grow. This strong trade growth is supported by the expansion of settlements in national currencies, which currently account for over 97% of the total,” he noted.

In effect, this means that the overwhelming majority of mutual trade between Russia and SCO member states is already conducted without the use of the dollar or other foreign reserve currencies.

Padalko emphasized that further growth in economic cooperation requires systematic efforts to streamline trade procedures, improve the investment climate, and refine mechanisms for financing joint projects.

According to him, sector-specific working groups on transportation and logistics, agriculture, energy, and the green economy are already operating within the SCO Business Council. In addition, meeting participants proposed creating a separate working group on the digital economy.

“The working groups’ activities are aimed at identifying bottlenecks that hinder the development of cooperation, preparing recommendations to eliminate them, and developing projects that can receive support from financial institutions,” Padalko said.

He also noted that it is proposed that the Business Council’s expert recommendations be submitted for consideration by the prime ministers of the SCO member states and taken into account when preparing documents for the summits of heads of state.

Vladimir Padalko noted that the organization has expanded significantly over the past 20 years. While the SCO comprised six countries in 2006, it now includes ten states. In light of this, he believes there is a pressing need to update the regulations governing the SCO Business Council’s activities and adapt its work to the organization’s new scale.