On 31 March 2021, officials from the National Bank of Kazakhstan chaired the first expert meeting to discuss the draft road map of the SCO member states for increasing the share of national currencies in mutual settlements.
Attendees included representatives of national ministries of finance and state banks from India, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia and Tajikistan, as well as banks, members of the SCO Inter-Bank Consortium.
Those taking part in the meeting exchanged opinions on the prospects for gradually converting to mutual settlements in national currencies and reaffirmed their agreements regarding the draft road map.
Considering this complicated matter and its topicality, the attendees agreed to continue discussing the document during the second half of April 2021 and to hold at least one to two expert meetings every quarter.
The current expert lineup will be modified for further elaborating upon the draft road map.
Reference note:
The draft road map of SCO member states for increasing the share of national currencies in mutual settlements is being compiled on the initiative of the Kazakhstani side, voiced by it at the June 2018 SCO Summit in Qingdao.
In their 2020 Moscow Declaration, SCO member states called for using national currencies more actively and increasing their share in mutual settlements between the concerned SCO member states. It was deemed appropriate to continue charting measures to resolve this matter, including the creation of an ad hoc expert group.