BRUSSELS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission launched on Wednesday several consultations to explore how to increase the international role of the euro.

The consultations are in sectors of agricultural and food commodities, metals and minerals, as well as transport sector manufacturers which are in the field of aircraft, maritime and railway transport.

Consultations in the financial and energy sectors will follow, the Commission said, with a workshop on the international role of the euro in the energy sector planned for on Feb. 14.

The consultations, open for two months, aim to determine where more fine-tuned initiatives can be taken. In addition, the Commission will hold discussions on the increased international role of the euro in different public fora.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker highlighted the hope to promote the use of euro in his State of the Union speech in November 2018.

"It is absurd that Europe pays for 80 percent of its energy import bill -- worth 300 billion euros a year -- in U.S. dollar when only roughly 2 percent of our energy imports come from the United States. It is absurd that European companies buy European planes in dollars instead of euro," Juncker said at the time. Enditem

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