Moscow, Jan 30 (Agency) Russia will propose key initiatives to enhance cooperation among the BRICS countries in 2024 when it assumes the chairmanship of the bloc, the country’s central bank governor, Elvira Nabiullina, said on Tuesday. “Yes. First of all, we would like to promote the topic of mutual recognition of ratings. This is very important for mutual trade and investment,” Nabiullina said. Noting that the idea of creating supranational rating agencies has been discussed both within BRICS and within the Eurasian Economic Union, she said the idea is promising but involves “a lot of complex issues,” including who should be the founder, how to ensure the financing, and how to guarantee the independence and professionalism of the agency.
“In our view, mutual recognition of ratings will be faster and more practical,” Nabiullina said. Another initiative that Russia plans to put forward in BRICS is to combat the money laundering of illicit funds. Russia has experience in creating an anti-money laundering platform called “Know Your Customer,” which it is willing to share. “We want to see what common platform solutions in this area can be developed at the level of BRICS. This would greatly simplify the cooperation of business of our countries,” Nabiullina added. Russia also plans to build a settlement-depository infrastructure and create a common platform for training and exchange of experience for the BRICS countries, she said, noting the final agenda will be formed by the end of February. Russia took over the rotating chairmanship of BRICS for 2024 on Jan. 1.