In a move that appears to be in response to Western efforts to disconnect Russia from the SWIFT financial system (which functions as an intermediary and executor of financial transactions between various banks globally) in an attempt to restrain and sanction the financial welfare of Russia, China and Russia have announced that they will develop shared financial structures in order to allow them to strengthen economic ties in a way that will make it impossible for foreign states to intervene or influence.
During today’s talks, President Putin and Chairman Xi Jinping announced their intent to increase the share of national currencies in mutual settlements and to expand cooperation between the two nations in order to provide more opportunities for Russian and Chinese investors regarding stock market access.
Putin’s foreign policy advisor – Yuri Ushakov – stated that ‘particular attention was paid to intensify efforts to form an independent financial structure’ in order to ‘service trade operations between Russia and China.’ He also expressed that the infrastructure ‘cannot be influenced by third countries.’
With both countries looking to distance themselves from the ever-weakening US dollar as the current main currency of international trade and reserves, the talks provided fruitful discussion as to how to best approach this task.