"Russia and Indonesia have a mechanism of officials that discuss banking and finance systems and they are in the process of talking to one another about this matter," Tavares said.
Tavares noted that Indonesia is aware of Russia’s intention to introduce its payment system Mir in several other countries, including Vietnam, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.
"I have proposed to Jakarta, recommended to Jakarta that our banks could start using the Mir payment system. The system is extremely useful for tourists - Russian tourists - that come to Indonesia. As far as I know, a lot of people here use Mir cards, and being able to still use them upon coming to Indonesia would really help promoting the tourism to our country," the ambassador added.
Answering the question about the sanctions against the Mir system, Tavares noted that this issue may affect the process of considering the decision.
"I do hope that we will adopt Mir in Indonesia," Tavares said.
In March, both Visa and Mastercard announced that they were suspending operations in Russia over Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine. Visa and Mastercard cards issued by Russian banks no longer work outside the country or in foreign online stores.
In late September, Turkey's Ziraat Bank, Isbank and DenizBank abandoned the use of Russia's Mir in connection with Western sanctions against Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the banks had made such a decision under "unprecedented" pressure from the United States and Washington's threats of imposing secondary sanctions against Ankara.