Russian President Putin said on the 26th that the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will continue to expand the use of their own currencies for mutual settlement. During an informal meeting of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) held in St. Petersburg, Russia, Putin stated that shifting towards using local currency settlement would help effectively safeguard the economic and financial sovereignty of the CIS countries. Russia will continue to cooperate with other CIS countries and actively promote this process. Putin also said that the CIS countries attach great importance to the issue of deepening economic cooperation within the framework. This year, the trade volume of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries has steadily increased. Data from the first 10 months shows that the trade volume of CIS countries increased by 2% year-on-year to 83.7 billion US dollars. During this informal meeting, the leaders of the participating countries agreed to expand cooperation in the economic and cultural fields, including joint efforts to combat attempts to tamper with history and glorify Nazism, as well as promoting the popularization of Russian within and outside the Commonwealth of Independent States. Various parties also exchanged views on some international hot topics. The Commonwealth of Independent States was established in December 1991 and currently has 9 formal member states, including Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and others. (Lai Xin She)