EEU Member States Should Use National Currencies in Mutual Trade

Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) members should gradually switch to the trade among the oraganization on the basis of the national currencies.

YEREVAN (Sputnik) — Members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) should gradually switch to the use of national currencies in trade within the organization, Minister in charge of the Development of Integration and Macroeconomics for the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Tatyana Valovaya said Wednesday.

"Not only the prices should be set, but it is necessary to proceed to payments in national currencies," Valovaya told reporters, commenting on a proposal to use national currencies to pay for energy resources.

Following a range of meetings of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, EEU institutions started preparations of the proposals that could include increased use of national currencies, she added.

At the same time, introduction of a single currency within the EEU is not on the agenda, Valovaya noted.

The EEU, comprising Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, is an international organization that encourages regional economic integration through the free movement of goods, services, and people within the union. It came into being on January 1, 2015.