News in Brief
Iran-Armenia economic commission kicks off in Tehran
The 18th meeting of the Iran-Armenia Joint Economic Commission kicked off in Tehran on Wednesday with the participation of trade and economic officials of the two countries.
It was attended by the head of the International and Public Relations Affairs of Iran’s Plan and Budget Organization (PBO), Masoud Mirzaei, and secretary of the Armenian Economic Commission and acting head of the Department of Bordering Countries, Hayk Darbinyan, IRNA reported.
In his address, Mirzaei termed the political relations between Tehran and Yerevan as “excellent,” and said, “We believe that the level of economic relations between the two countries should be promoted in tandem with the political ties.”
Iran seeks an operational road map for the expansion of trade-economic relations with the Republic of Armenia in all fields and will use all its capacities to develop its relations with its neighbor, Mirzaei emphasized.
For his part, the secretary of the Armenian Economic Commission said that promoting political and economic relations with Iran has been high on the agenda of the government of Armenia.
BRICS members speeding up
de-dollarization
Russia, China, and India have ditched the US dollar in 95% of their trade transactions in what is certainly a sign of growing de-dollarization efforts by the three main members of the BRICS bloc of emerging economies, a report by Watcher.guru website shows.
The report published on Wednesday quoted Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Tatiana Mohaghan as saying that Russia’s dealings with China and India has massively shifted in favor of local currencies.
Moreover, figures by the ICC shows that Russia’s export settlements in either the US dollar or the euro have also fallen from more than 85% in 2021 to just 34% last year, said the report.
BRICS member states were not shy about their de-dollarization plans last year as the bloc increased its overall usage of local currencies in bilateral trade.
Russia has tried to shift its trade focus amid increased Western sanctions on its economy.