Exchange taste: Russia increases trade in national currencies with ASEAN countries

Russia is expanding trade in national currencies with Vietnam and other ASEAN countries, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told Izvestia. At the same time, Moscow is also actively paying these partners in yuan, which today is a serious competitor to the dollar. In light of Donald Trump's trade wars, the region is increasingly turning to the Chinese currency, and is also not against expanding economic ties with Russia. In particular, according to Rudenko, a number of countries, including Malaysia, are discussing the possibility of accepting Mir cards.

Russia expands economic ties in Southeast Asia

The Asia-Pacific region is becoming increasingly important for the Russian Federation. Moscow is consistently expanding the list of partners with whom it trades in national currencies. This also applies to the member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). On October 26-28, the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur hosts the ASEAN Summit, which Russia is also participating in.

Russia is increasing trade in national currencies with the countries of the association, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told Izvestia.

— This is the direction of our economic policy with many countries, with Vietnam and with other states. Agreements on a free trade zone with the EAEU have been concluded with a number of countries, in particular with Vietnam. It works well. There are problems, but they can be solved," he said.

According to him, Moscow is interested in accepting Mir cards in the ASEAN countries.

"We are discussing these issues with Malaysia and other countries too," the diplomat said.

ASEAN consists of 11 countries: Brunei, East Timor, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. The merger will form the fifth largest economy in the world after the United States, China, Japan and Germany with a combined GDP of $3.6 trillion (as of 2022). ASEAN has established a dialogue partnership with 11 countries, including Russia.

Recently, the most relevant topic for the Russian Federation and ASEAN has been the expansion of the use of national currencies in mutual trade. In 2023, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow was ready to work in this direction together with the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. "Russia is one of the world's leading suppliers of food, oil, gas, and valuable minerals, including rare earth metals," he said.

At the same time, Moscow retains the closest ties with Hanoi, Elena Nikulina, a researcher at the Center for Vietnam and ASEAN Studies at the ICSA RAS, told Izvestia. Today, this republic occupies a neutral position, remaining in good relations with both the Russian Federation and the West.

— Vietnam is renowned for its ability to compromise and balance the interests of great powers. He has a very long and strong relationship with Russia since the days when the Soviet Union was the main helper in the [Vietnam] war and helped him rebuild and build his economy," the expert recalled.

In 2024, the mutual trade turnover increased by more than 20% and reached $6 billion, Vladimir Putin said earlier following talks with General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party To Lam. The current free trade zone between Vietnam and the EAEU played an important role in this. Thanks to low taxes, both sides were able to create a favorable atmosphere for all participants in the trade.

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The Russian Federation introduced its partners to the prospects of the Northern Sea Route and proposed new solutions in the nuclear field.

At the same time, the share of trade settlement in national currencies (rubles and dong) between the two countries at the beginning of 2024 was almost 60%. Moscow and Hanoi also use cryptocurrencies for mutual settlements, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chin said on October 27 at a meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk.

Nuclear energy has become another area of bilateral cooperation. Due to the rapid development of the economy in Vietnam, the demand for electricity has increased sharply, so the country has renewed interest in building nuclear power plants jointly with the Russian Federation, says Elena Nikulina. So, in January of this year, the head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, said that Hanoi wants to return to the Ninh Thuan-1 NPP project, which stopped work in 2016.

Moreover, in Vietnam, the situation with the "World" maps is relatively good. They can be used to pay in stores and shopping malls where there are POS terminals of the Vietnamese-Russian Bank (VRB).

In addition to Vietnam, the Russian Federation is strengthening economic rapprochement with other ASEAN countries. In early October, it became known that Indonesia was ready to switch to settlements with Russia in national currencies. The country's Trade minister, Budi Santoso, said that this issue is being worked out.

Another country, the Philippines, is not yet ready to switch to national currencies from the Russian Federation, but theoretically this option is possible, and the banks of both countries are in contact, the country's ambassador to the Russian Federation Igor Bailen said earlier. Such an issue is also being worked out with Cambodia, and at the beginning of 2024, there was talk of an early transition to similar settlements with Myanmar.

As for the Mir card, of all the ASEAN countries, it can only be freely paid in Myanmar. It is accepted in 67 retail outlets across the country, Investment Minister Kang Zo said this year. Indonesia and Thailand have been considering the possibility of hosting Mir for a long time, and Malaysia has not ruled out such a possibility.

How the yuan's share in global trade is growing

The most successful strategy of trading in national currencies of the Russian Federation is implemented with China. Today, the share of such settlements is 95%, which significantly reduces the risks of sanctions pressure and dependence on the dollar, said Boris Titov, co-chairman of the Russian part of the Russian-Chinese Friendship, Peace and Development Committee.

Instead of the American currency, Russia is gradually switching to the Chinese yuan, not only in trade with China, but also with other Southeast Asian countries, Andrei Rudenko told Izvestia.

Beijing is actively continuing to de-dollarize, expanding the use of its currency in cross-border settlements. In 2023, the yuan took a record 48% in China's international settlements, surpassing the share of the "American". At the same time, it came in second place after the dollar in SWIFT payments.

The main guarantor of the yuan's strength is the ever-increasing volume of trade between China and many countries around the world, Nikolai Marchenko, a Sinologist and director of the Autonomous Non-Governmental Organization Eurasian Youth Projects, told Izvestia.

— This is facilitated, among other things, by the increasing investment activity of China in different regions of the world. In addition, against the background of Washington's dramatically changing position, China's political course is stable and pragmatic, which is especially important today in the context of global turbulence, the expert said.

The latter argument is especially relevant in light of the trade war launched by US President Donald Trump in the spring of 2025. In this context, the ASEAN countries are increasingly sympathetic to their powerful neighbor China, with which they have a free trade agreement. It creates favorable conditions for deepening economic ties.

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China has traditionally been the main partner of the ASEAN countries. Last year, the trade turnover reached more than $900 billion. As China maintains a trade surplus, countries increasingly prefer to settle accounts in yuan, Marchenko says. This is also facilitated by the relatively benevolent political course of the countries.

Despite the fact that the yuan's position is strengthening every year, the Chinese currency is unlikely to be able to completely replace the dollar in the near future, the expert believes. The fact is that the United States retains one of the main "levers" of pressure on the world — its own financial system, which still inspires confidence among major participants in the global economy.

— In this case, we should expect further tightening of the competition between the yuan and the dollar. At the same time, much will depend on what agreement US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping come to after lengthy US-Chinese negotiations," Marchenko recalls.

According to the latest official information, the leaders of the United States and China will meet at the APEC summit in South Korea. The event will be held from October 30 to November 1.