MOSCOW, December 8 (Sputnik) — Integration with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) which will replace the existing Customs Union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan starting January 1, 2015, will help its member-states decrease dependency on the euro and US dollar in mutual trade, Executive Vice President of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Murychev believes.
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan have already signed and ratified a treaty establishing the Eurasian Economic Union. The three countries were later joined by Armenia, which signed the treaty in Minsk on October 10.
“Economic integration within the EEU framework will help get rid of the use of the US dollar and euro in mutual trade,” Murychev said during the Eurasian Economic Congress at the press center of International Agency Rossiya Segodnya.
According to Igor Suvorov, president of Interstate Bank, currently 55% of all transnational transactions between the CIS countries are being conducted in rubles, 30% in US dollars, 9% in euros and the rest in other national currencies of the organization’s member-states. “The goal is to increase the share of national currencies in transactions to decrease the use of the US dollar and euro,” Suvorov said.
Nevertheless, the congress’ participants agreed that it’s still too early to discuss the creation of a single currency within the EEU, as it requires a united supranational regulator and a united emission center. The decision has been made to create a regulating body in 2025, Suvorov said.
