Russia and Iran discuss mutual settlements in Chinese Yuan currency
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak confirmed on Wednesday, that Russia and Iran are discussing mutual settlements in Chinese yuan, and that more than 80% of the two countries’ settlements are in national currencies.
Novak said in response to a question about whether it was possible to achieve convergence on the issue of settlements in national currencies or currencies of third countries: “Today we discussed these issues in great detail, in the presence of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank on our part and on the part of our Iranian colleagues”.
“We already have about 80% of settlements in national currencies, in riyals and rubles, and the share of Euros, US dollars and other currencies is less than 20%,” Novak added.
Novak continued, “We’re studying the currencies of other countries, including the yuan, and this is also one of the trends, and our banks are working in this direction”.
Earlier, Novak announced that Russia will allocate a loan of 1.3 billion Euros ($1.4 billion) to help build the Rasht-Astara line worth 1.6 billion Euros for the “Rasht-Astara” railway project.
In the same context, Novak indicated that Russia and Iran are discussing the establishment of an electronic trading platform for gas sales in southern Iran.
On Tuesday, Novak arrived in Iran for a two-day visit, where he met with the Iranian Minister of Oil, and confirmed that the oil and gas sector is one of the main sectors of interaction between the Russian and Iranian sides.
Last November, Iran and Russia signed a strategic cooperation document to develop relations between the two countries, during the meetings of the Joint Economic Committee in Chechnya, one of the republics of the Russian Federation.
