Today Yerevan has hosted the International Forum “National currencies of the EAEU counties: Practical experience”, organized by the Interstate Bank.

During the opening ceremony, participants and guests have heard welcoming remarks from the Interstate Bank’s President Mr. Igor Suvorov, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia Mr. Vakhtang Abrahamyan, Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Armenia Ms. Naira Margaryan, the President of the Association of Banks of Russia Mr. Georgiy Luntovskiy, and the Executive Vice President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Mr. Alexander Murychev.

The Interstate Bank and Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia have noted that for the first time Armenia hosts a forum on national currencies of such scale, which involves representatives of different economic sectors of the EAEU member states. It has gone the borders of just one state.

“The forum involved representatives of the central (national) banks of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, as well as the Ministries of Finance and Economy of Armenia, the Eurasian Economic Commission, commercial banks and investment companies, large industrial and trade companies, the heads of the unions of industrialists and entrepreneurs, currency and stock exchanges of Armenia and Russia, and top researchers from the two countries,” the bank said in its press statement.

In the context of deepening integration processes and increasing trade between the EAEU countries, the forum topic is relevant. The organizers provided the financial and business community of the EAEU countries the opportunity to exchange experience in practical work with the national currencies of the EAEU countries and to express their suggestions.

The speakers have discussed factors conducive to broader the use of the national currencies in trade and economic relations within the EAEU, for instance, the use of the Armenian dram and the Russian ruble instead of the U.S. dollar in transactions between Armenian and Russian organizations. Other topics covered the needs of the businesses, means and methods to overcome existing barriers, as well as the evaluating the payment mechanism in the national currencies of the Interstate Bank.

Suggestions have been made about creating a fund that would finance the mutual trade in the national currencies.

As part of the Forum, together with the Moscow Exchange and the Armenia Securities Exchange, the "Moscow Exchange Day in Yerevan" was organized for the professional participants in the financial market.