Russia, South Africa Studying Alternatives For Trade In National Currencies - Diplomat

Russia and South Africa are working on creating alternative mechanisms in order to trade in national currencies, and plan to fully restart bilateral trade by the end of 2023, Oleg Ozerov, Russian ambassador-at-large and the head of the Russia-Africa partnership forum, said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2023) Russia and South Africa are working on creating alternative mechanisms in order to trade in national currencies, and plan to fully restart bilateral trade by the end of 2023, Oleg Ozerov, Russian ambassador-at-large and the head of the Russia-Africa partnership forum, said on Wednesday.

"We already know for sure that our cooperation (with Africa) will be carried out without the US dollar. However, other prospects are opening up - this is primarily cooperation in national currencies," Ozerov said at the Valdai Discussion Club.

The Russian diplomat specified that trade could be carried out in rubles, Yuan and rand, the official Currency of the Southern African Common Monetary Area comprising South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini.

"The creation of a common currency for the BRICS countries is a long-term process and apparently not a fast one. We need quick solutions that would allow us to restart trade with South Africa right away, create joint projects and lend money," Ozerov said.

He also expressed an opinion that solutions would be found to restore cooperation with South Africa in full during 2023.

South African Ambassador to Russia Mzuvukile Jeff Maqetuka told Sputnik last week that South Africa would like to increase cooperation with Russia in the banking and financial sector.

In June 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the BRICS business Forum that the five major emerging economies should establish an international reserve system based on the basket of BRICS currencies. Although it may take years for the group to create such a monetary system, the final result is likely to be a balance between the competing Western Dollar system and the BRICS currency basket, Gary Korolev, CEO of financial services firm Sovereign Wealth Management, told Sputnik.

On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the creation of a common currency would be discussed at the BRICS summit in August.