central bank authorities of Cuba and Venezuela They advocated this Thursday in St. Petersburg to speed up the procedures for the use of Russian MIR bank cards in their respective countries, international media report.
They did so after the American Visa and MasterCard suspended their operations in Russia and thus prevented Russians from paying with their cards abroad.
“We are working now for the acceptance of MIR cards in our country,” said Alberto Quiñones, general director of Systems, Technologies and Development of the Central Bank of Cuba, quoted by the agency EFE.
Quiñones, who attended the debate “New forms of international cooperation. How will the payment be”, held during the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, he trusted that in the coming weeks the necessary steps will be taken so that the MIR payment system begins to work in Cuba before the end of the year.
MIR cards are currently accepted in Turkey, Vietnam and six former Soviet republics.
Calixto José Ortega Sánchez, president of the Central Bank of Venezuela, also spoke in favor of the acceptance of the Russian payment system in the Latin American country, together with the systems of other countries, such as Turkey, expanding the Spanish medium.
“We can no longer delay it any longer,” said Ortega, who added that otherwise the Western “monopoly” will win, which can be used as a “weapon” when the time comes.
In addition, on this day, and in the context of the Saint Petersburg Economic Forum, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, met with the Cuban Deputy Prime Minister, Ricardo Cabrisas, who heads the Cuban delegation present at the forum.
#Cuba?? is at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, represented by a delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz.
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— Cuban Foreign Ministry (@CubaMINREX) June 16, 2022
In accordance with EFEduring their meeting Lavrov and Cabrisas predicted “the victory of the multipolar world against the dictation of the United States in the framework of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine.”
The Russian foreign minister assured that “international relations are going through a crucial phase, since it is about whether the US attempt to once again create a unipolar world and dictate its will to the rest will be successful”. In his opinion, “Russia, Cuba and other co-religionists oppose that line through the defense of international law”, which, he said, is the “correct” position.
For his part, Cabrisas referred to the “unprecedented tightening” of the US embargo on the island and stated that “the unipolar world cannot prevail over the multipolar,” he points out. EFE.
About the meeting, the state agency Latin Press he pointed that “Lavrov and Cabrisas ratified the excellent state of political relations between the two countries and once again insisted on the importance of continuing to deepen economic, commercial, financial and cooperation ties.”
The media reported that also this Thursday “the senior Cuban official held a dialogue with Antón Kobiakov, presidential adviser and vice president of the Organizing Committee of the Forum; and with Sergei Glaziev, Minister of Economic Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission“.
Recently, the Russian Senate postponed the payment of credits granted to Cuba, which will be able to pay its debt until 2027. In addition, this week Cabrisas personally reiterated to the main creditors of the Island in the Paris Club the Cuban commitment to fulfill its obligations financial.
EFE / OnCuba
