Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday urged Brics member states to increase the use of national currencies for trade and take steps for greater economic integration to overcome the impact of sanctions that has intensified in recent months.
India, the host of the Brics Summit, has had to walk a delicate line while working for enhanced economic cooperation within the bloc, including the use of national currencies, and avoiding the anger of US President Donald Trump, who has accused the grouping of attempting to undermine the dollar.
Pezeshkian highlighted geopolitical uncertainty, supply chain disruptions and the “increasing use of economic instruments to exert political pressure” while addressing the leaders’ session of the Brics business forum alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. “One of the most important steps is to expand the use of national currencies in trade among the members,” Pezeshkian said. This must be accompanied by the establishment of instruments for managing currency risks and reciprocal settlements since the “current financial system is vulnerable to political shocks due to its concentration in a limited number of currencies”, he said. Iran, which has faced extensive sanctions, believes economic resilience is not possible without diversifying trade partners, sources of financing, and payment channels, he said. “Whenever the trade, energy, infrastructure or financial system of a country comes under political or military pressure, its effects extend beyond that country’s borders and can affect regional stability and even the global one,” he said. Pezeshkian proposed that Brics should create an environment in which “no country can disrupt the legitimate trade of another country through monopolising a financial instrument or technology” and said this can be done by ensuring resilient capacities for the economies of member states and the Global South. “In order to increase intra-Brics trade, we must move from fragmented cooperation towards the gradual integration of trade infrastructure,” he said.
