“Russia and Islamic World: Breaking Dollar Monopoly and Creating an Independent Financial System”

Russia and the Islamic world are currently discussing how to deepen their cooperation to create a new financial system that would break the monopoly of the dollar. According to the statements of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk, this topic is also part of the agenda of the broader deglobalization negotiations. The Russian government, together with the Islamic countries, invests a lot of energy in their implementation.

At KazanForum, an international economic forum between Russia and the Islamic world, Overchuk stated:

“Our relations with the countries of the Islamic world cannot be affected by the current global changes and global trends. We are discussing the processes of de-dollarization and the establishment of an independent financial system”.

In this sense, Russia has recently sought to build an alternative financial system that would allow it to conduct transactions with other countries without relying on SWIFT, the global banking interconnection system, and the US dollar. The topic is very urgent for the Russians, as the G7 wants to further limit Russian access to the international financial system.

Deglobalization on the table

However, these negotiations are not limited to the aforementioned topic, but are an important point of discussion in a more comprehensive topic, which includes deglobalization, as well as how to manage the changing trends in the movement of investments in countries in the current geopolitical context.

Overchuk explained that he is positive regarding the outcome of these talks and noted that Russia and these countries are facing common problems. Overchuk stated:

“This broader agenda and how it affects the countries and the relations between them allows us to see that relations between Russia and the Islamic States have a very positive future. Our government is doing a lot so that we can achieve further development along this line”.

Russia has also recently deepened its relations with Iran. Construction of the Rasht-Astara railway was announced, a route intended to rival the Suez Canal. The 162 km long railway line would connect India, Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan and other countries of the Islamic world on the Caspian Sea coastline.