Russia-China trade and economic cooperation is expanding, with over 80% of settlements between the two nations currently made in rubles and yuan, President Vladimir Putin has revealed.
The Russian leader was addressing a virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on Tuesday via videolink from Moscow. The 23rd SCO summit is being chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The organization was founded in 2001 as an economic and security bloc by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became permanent members in 2017.
According to Putin, the volume of trade between Russia and fellow SCO member states reached a record $263 billion in 2022. The figure was up 35% in the first four months of this year, he noted. The share of the ruble in Russia's settlements with the SCO countries exceeded 40%, Putin said.
Trade between Russia and China has continued to accelerate after hitting a historic high of $190.3 billion in annual terms in 2022. Exports and imports have surged at double-digit pace since the beginning of the year. According to customs data, bilateral trade soared to $93.8 billion in January-May, marking a 40.7% increase compared with a year ago. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov recently said that bilateral trade is on track to surpass the target of $200 billion a year earlier than anticipated.
Economic ties have been bolstered by the mutual decision to conduct the majority of transactions in national currencies instead of the US dollar.
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