The intergovernmental commission between Russia and Algeria is discussing a mechanism of money transfers between the two countries' banks, Dmitry Shatunov, chairman of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry commission for foreign economic cooperation with Algeria told Sputnik.
"There's a search for directions. Everything is being worked out from scratch, on our side and theirs. For the moment, Algeria is very interested in cooperation and is open to negotiation. Concrete results will be seen in a year's time at the earliest," he said.
The expert noted that the possibility of connecting Algeria to the Financial Messaging System of the Bank of Russia (SPFS) is also under consideration.
In 2022, the European Union, the United States and their allies rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Russia since the country started a military operation in Ukraine in late February, including cutting off Russian banks from SWIFT.
Against this background, the SPFS system gained momentum, which, according to Alla Bakina, head of Russia's Central Bank's National Payment System Department, was joined by the majority of Russian banks, as well as 52 foreign organizations from 12 countries.
In February, the central banks of Russia and Iran signed a deal to connect interbank communication and transfer systems to spur trade and facilitate transactions. The agreement calls for the 52 Iranian bank branches that currently use Iran’s local interbank telecom system, known as SEPAM, to connect with the 106 banks using Russia’s SPFS.
At the end of March 2022, Russia and India likewise said they were working on a banking messaging system alternative to SWIFT.