The leader of SCO decided to take action to improve the use of national currencies in trade

The leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) decided to take action to improve the use of national currencies in trade between their countries, according to a joint statement adopted on Friday.
The group asserted that “interested SCO member states” had reached an agreement on a “roadmap for the gradual increase in the share of national currencies in mutual settlements” and called for the practice to be expanded.

The group is made up of four Central Asian states as well as China, India, Russia, and Pakistan. The group made no more explanations and left out the names of the “interested states.” Moscow is regarded as being the main force behind the push towards national currencies as it attempts to reduce its reliance on the U.S. dollar and other Western currencies for trade following the adoption of sweeping new Western sanctions in response to its invasion of Ukraine in February.

According to a statement made last week by Russian gas company Gazprom, China would pay for half of its imports of Russian gas in Russian roubles and half in Chinese yuan (GAZP.MM). Previous agreements have been made using dollars and euros, which are the two main reference currencies for international oil commerce.

Iran is a major producer of oil and is about to join the SCO. Like Russia, Iran is subject to extensive international economic and financial sanctions.