APEC countries prepared to set up alternative to SWIFT, work already underway - Overchuk

GYEONGJU. Oct 30 (Interfax) - Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member states are prepared to move to alternative payment systems instead of SWIFT and are already working on this; their continuing trade relations with Russia show that Russia will be part of these new payment systems, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, acting as head of the Russian delegation at the APEC summit, told journalists.

"It is clear that here, in this region, a new payment system is going to appear. This is being discussed openly - even non-friendly countries have been saying this to us, and international financial institutions have been saying it. And, indeed, we are now already beginning to see that these systems are starting to function," he said.

Asked whether this referred to the establishment of SWIFT alternatives, Overchuk said, "from what I am hearing here [at the APEC summit], [...] these alternatives already exist".

"The world is becoming much more stable, the financial world, mutual financial settlements are, in this sense, a lot less dependent upon specific monopolies or specific countries," Overchuk said.

On Russia's participation in this process, he said, "Everything works, trade is underway."

The APEC Economic Leaders' Week is taking place from October 27 to November 1 in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, and the summit of the forum from October 31 to November 1.

APEC is a forum made up of 21 countries from the Asia-Pacific Region aiming to promote cooperation in regional trade and liberalize capital investment. Its participants include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the U.S., Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Chile, Peru, Russia and Vietnam.