Since then the euro has steadily bolstered its status challenging the old international financial order dominated by the U.S. dollar.

Euro zone has gained in scope and the use of the euro is on the steady increase in the international financial transaction, gradually pushing aside the U.S. dollar.

Eleven countries were the first to introduce the euro. Among them were France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. This January Slovakia joined those countries, bringing the number of the euro-using countries to 16. The euro zone currently has a combined population of 320 million, compared with the U.S. with a population of about 302 million.

According to an opinion poll conducted in 2005 among central banks in 65 countries of the world, two thirds of them had already begun changing the U.S. dollar into the euro out of their foreign currency reserves.

At a time when the euro made its appearance, more than 65 percent of the world trading was settled with the U.S. dollar. But it was reduced to about 50 percent at present and the remaining proportion of trade was done with the euro or other currencies.

The U.S. sanctions against developing countries taking the road of independence against imperialism resulted in raising the status of the euro in the international financial and trade markets.

In October 2004 the Cuban Central Bank banned the use of the U.S. dollar in commercial dealings and decided to use the euro and other currencies instead.

The Syrian government clarified in February 2007 that it changed the U.S. dollar amounting to half of the country's foreign currency reserves into the euro.

In April last year the Iranian government stated that it completely stopped using the U.S. dollar in the nation's oil dealings with other countries.

The U.S. dollar is on an unprecedented decline and the euro has instead become relatively stable and strong against the backdrop of its increased status and role in the international financial and trading markets.

In the period from 2002 to 2005 the U.S. dollar exchange rate declined 38 percent as against the euro and, in the subsequent period, it went down more than 20 percent. That of the euro set the record of $ 1.56 in March last year. Even though it experienced a slight decline due to the worldwide financial crunch, it still remains relatively stable.

Experts remark that had it not been for the euro the European countries would have suffered a bigger loss due to the worldwide financial meltdown and that the crisis has made the euro even more attractive. No wonder, Britain and other EU countries which did not introduce the euro were particularly hard hit by the crisis.

This has prompted Britain, Denmark, Switzerland and other EU countries which have long stayed out of the euro zone to have a second thought about the introduction of the euro.

According to IMF, the euro represented 8.5 percent increase in the worldwide foreign reserves during the period from 1999 to 2007 while the U.S. dollar shrank 8 percent. A particular mention should be made of the fact that in the three-month period till September 2007 when the financial crisis occurred in the U.S. the euro registered 0.9 percent increase while the U.S. dollar showed 1.2 percent decrease.

This indicates that the worldwide financial crisis marked a fresh occasion of bolstering the euro's status as compared with the U.S. dollar.

EU member nations are openly challenging the U.S., claiming that "Bretton Woods" system has served its time.

There are brisk moves worldwide including Latin America and Africa to counter the U.S. dollar with regional uniform currency, stimulated by the rise of the euro's status. Observers predict that this will give further momentum to the efforts to build a multi-polar world.