ISTANBUL, September 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and Turkey may significantly increase the use of their respective national currencies in mutual payments, the Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Tuesday.
“Now just $1.5 billion – or a little bit less than five percent of our $32.7 billion bilateral trade - operates in mutual currencies,” Ulyukayev said after a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, adding that this sum may be significantly increased.
According to Ulyukayev, increasing the use of national currencies is possible “through developing correspondent bank networks, including subsidiary banks, and developing their relations, the relations between the central banks, the possibilities of conducting swap operations and through the possibility of spending part of reserves on investing in bonds, nominated in [Russian] rubles and [Turkish] liras.”
Earlier in September, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, congratulating Turkey’s newly-elected Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on his appointment to the post, said that Russia is ready to build a cooperative relationship with Turkey.
