Updated 07:34 p.m. Moscow Time
MINSK, October 21 (RIA Novosti) - Belarus and Russia, along with creating their national payment systems, should consider joining them together, Belarusian prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich said Tuesday.
"We support the idea of working on creation of our national payment systems as well as simultaneously on unification of these systems," Myasnikovich said following a Cabinet meeting of the Russia-Belarus Union State.
In May, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law to establish a national payment system after Visa and MasterCard stopped providing services for some Russian banks following the anti-Russia sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies.
China's UnionPay and Japan's JCB bank card organizations are considered to be the main alternatives for Visa and MasterCard. In September Gazprombank, one of the top three banks of Russia, started issuing Union Pay cards.
Belarusian national payment system Belkart was established by the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus in 1994. Currently almost 5 million Belkart cards are in circulation. They can be used only domestically.
