ASEAN's growing efforts to expand the usage of local currencies in bilateral trade were not associated with the Russian offer of support for initiatives that would lower their dependence on the US dollar, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said.
"If now it is more directed at trade transactions, of course it is something good. It should not be associated with conflict on a global scale because of course ASEAN has its own views and mechanisms. This means that if this is good for ASEAN, it is certainly a process that will be taken," the ministry's spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told reporters in Jakarta.
Faizasyah's comments on the topic came days after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov promised ASEAN countries of assistance in their attempts to move away from dollar trade.
Lavrov made the statement during his meeting with ASEAN foreign ministers last week.
His words came after Moscow recently revealed that its trade with ASEAN countries has suffered a 4.4 percent dip due to US-led sanctions on the Eurasian nation.
"Not just Russia, but a number of other countries are consistently reducing their dependence on the U.S. dollar and transitioning to alternative payment systems and payments in national currencies," the Russian Foreign Ministry quoted him as saying in a statement.
However, long before Moscow proposed to help ASEAN in setting up trade in local currency mechanisms, the Southeast Asian bloc made attempts at economic integration between member states.
Citing the example of the economic crisis in 1998, the Indonesian official noted that even at that time, ASEAN nations used local currencies for transactions.
Faizasyah further underlined that "intra-ASEAN trade transactions" could witness a major uptick if people were allowed to use the currencies of their respective countries.