OREANDA-NEWS Brazil considers it a priority to expand the use of national currencies - the Russian ruble and the Brazilian real - in bilateral trade, while seeing the greatest potential in the agro-industrial complex, said the republic's Ambassador to Moscow, Sergio Rodriguez dos Santos.

"The priority now is to expand the use of national currencies, the Russian ruble and the Brazilian real, in individual trading operations. We consider this direction to be the most realistic at this stage. There are still certain stages to go through before switching to using the single currency (within the framework of BRICS - ed.) or larger settlement mechanisms," the ambassador told "Izvestia".

According to the ambassador, the fastest way to transfer trade in the agricultural sector to rubles and reals. Russia remains Brazil's largest supplier of mineral fertilizers, providing 26% of total imports of agrochemicals and 45% of potash fertilizers, while soybeans, meat and coffee come from Brazil to Russia.

Today, the share of direct payments in rubles and reais is only about 10% of the total turnover.