On October 4, the Government of Russia and Turkey signed an agreement on settlements and payments aimed at expanding and strengthening interbank cooperation, as well as ensuring uninterrupted settlements between economic entities of the Russian Federation and Turkey. The agreement was signed by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov on the Turkish side, and by Minister of Treasury and Finance Berat Albayrak on the Turkish side.
"The main goal of preparing this document is to increase and gradually transition to the use of national currencies (the ruble and the lira) in settlements between the two countries, create the appropriate financial market infrastructure, and increase the attractiveness of national currencies for economic entities," the Russian Ministry of Finance press service reported.
The agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Turkey also provides for the further expansion of the infrastructure for accepting Russian MIR cards in Turkey and the connection of Turkish banks and companies to the Russian equivalent of SWIFT—the Bank of Russia Financial Messaging System (SPFS).
At the same time, the countries intend to organize interaction between national systems for transmitting financial messages with the subsequent possibility of connecting other countries to these systems.
Russia and Türkiye also intend to support the further opening and expansion of the use of direct correspondent accounts opened between commercial banks of the two countries to develop cross-border settlements.
To increase the level of liquidity in national currencies, instruments for issuing debt securities by Russian and Turkish issuers on the national markets of the two countries will be developed.
The signing of the Agreement is an important step towards the further expansion and development of mutually beneficial and equal trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Turkey.
As a reminder, in April 2019, İşbank became the first bank in Turkey to accept Mir cards at its ATMs and POS terminals.
Source: trn-news.ru
