CAIRO, Oct 8 – Novosti. The Russian payment system “Mir” can start operating in Egypt in the coming days, this information is provided by the Egyptian newspaper “Ash-Shuruk” with reference to sources in the economic and tourism sectors.
“Sources in the field of economics and tourism told Ash-Shuruk about the introduction of the Mir system and the start of operations with Russian rubles in Egyptian banks and tourist resorts in the coming days,” the publication reports.
According to the same sources of Ash-Shuruk, the decision on transactions with Russian rubles was not influenced by information about the refusal of Turkish banks to interact with the payment system due to possible US sanctions.
Sources in the tourism industry interviewed by Novosti were unable to confirm Al-Shuruk’s information, noting that “negotiations on the introduction of the Russian payment system are just underway.”
Russian Ambassador to Cairo Georgy Borisenko said in September that Moscow is working with the Egyptian Central Bank on the possibility of using Mir cards and hopes to complete the process in the near future.
Earlier, a banking source told the Egyptian portal Masrawy about the difficulties in establishing a connection between the Russian Mir cards and the Egyptian Meeza payment system. “In the light of the current global situation, the establishment of a connection between Mir and Meeza may have a negative impact on Egypt’s negotiations with the IMF on a new cooperation program,” the source said.
