The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), comprising Russia, China and four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics -Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - held their own summit Tuesday in the Russian Ural city of Yekaterinburg. The leaders of SCO countries agreed to take Russia's proposal on using their national currencies in mutual settlements and introducing a common currency for the group. The common currency would be similar to the European currency unit and the monetary union currency in 2013 of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries that include Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The common currency would be similar to the European currency unit and to the coming monetary union currency in 2013 of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries that include Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, also as expected, told the SCO summit that the Shanghai group member states should increase the share of their national currencies in mutual settlements to reduce dependence on the dollar and improve the health of the global financial system. “The current set of reserve currencies and the main reserve currency - the US dollar - have failed to function as they should,” Medvedev said. He added that the Russian ruble could hopefully become a reserve currency in the foreseeable future. The summit suggests that the dollar dominance as the world's prime reserve currency isn't on the road to expansion. Obviously the developing countries are clearly observing the unprecedented rise of US debt that issued in US dollars. The SCO was set up as a security group, but has increasingly encompassed economic and energy projects. The summit's participants said that the current structure of the world currency system, dominated by the US dollar as the major global reserve currency, was far from ideal and that the appearance of new reserve currencies was inevitable. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told the summit that the Shanghai group member states should increase the share of national currencies in mutual settlements to reduce dependence on the dollar and improve the health of the global financial system. “The current set of reserve currencies and the main reserve currency - the US dollar - have failed to function as they should,” Medvedev said.
