OREANDA-NEWS  The BRICS countries will focus on increasing the share of national currencies in trade within the group in order to reduce the negative effects of the use of the dollar in the global financial system, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said.

He recalled that about 200 events are planned during the Russian presidency, including a meeting of the foreign ministers in June in Nizhny Novgorod and a summit of the group in October in Kazan. At the moment about 30 countries have shown interest in joining or developing cooperation with BRICS.

"One of the priorities of the Russian presidency, which will have long-term positive consequences for trade and investment within the group, is the financial and economic parameters of our cooperation. According to the decision of the leaders of the Johannesburg summit, we will look for ways to increase the use of national currencies, various instruments and platforms in transactions within the BRICS in order to reduce the negative consequences of the dominance of the financial system based on the dollar and to increase the role of developing countries in international finance," Ryabkov said.

He added that Russia will also pay special attention to the development of cooperation in the field of innovation and artificial intelligence, as well as work on the idea of launching an Industrial Competence Center within the framework of BRICS.