Astana, 29 October. The central banks of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan agreed at the fourth regional meeting on payment systems development to work out a mechanism for interaction between their national QR payment systems by the end of the year, the National Bank of Kazakhstan said.
"For citizens of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, this will make it possible to pay for goods and services by QR code in their bank's familiar mobile app while travelling, and to send and receive money between each other in real time," the National Bank said. The participants supported the Kazakh side's approaches to integration; exact dates for launching cross-border QR payments have not been announced. The Kazakh central bank also proposed joint measures on information exchange and approaches to regulating digital assets.
Work on cross-border QR payments is under way in several directions. In September National Bank deputy chairman Binur Zhalenov said that Kazakhstan was working on integration with 11 countries, including China, the UAE, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and India; the Chinese direction should go live first, with testing planned before the end of 2026. "In some places it will be next year, in others the process will take longer – two years," he said of other countries.
What it means: For the first time five countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus have agreed to work together on a common mechanism rather than on bilateral projects: if it goes live, a travelling Kazakh will be able to pay in Bishkek, Tashkent, Dushanbe and Baku with their own bank's app.
Who benefits: Tourists and labour migrants – payments and transfers without cash or currency exchange. Banks and retailers in the participating countries – a flow of customers from neighbouring states.
Background: The National Bank signed a memorandum on cross-border QR payments with Uzbekistan in September, and Kyrgyzstan's Elcart payment system discussed transfers and payments by a single QR code with Kazakhstan's National Payment Corporation in the summer. Kazakhstan is discussing exempting QR payments and the digital tenge from VAT.
