MOSCOW, 20 November (BelTA) – Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Rumas and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev removed at least half of disagreements on Belarus-Russia integration roadmaps on 19 November, Sergei Rumas told reporters after more than seven hours of negotiations in Moscow, BelTA has learned.
“I will cite a couple of figures so that mass media will get an idea of the huge amount of work the governments have done. We are to draft a total of 31 roadmaps comprising over 700 points. By today's morning, about 40 points of the roadmaps were not agreed on. During these seven hours we had a detailed discussion on each of them. It is hard to say how many unresolved issues are left, but I think we have managed to come to terms on at least half of them,” Sergei Rumas said.
The premier underlined that at least 20 integration roadmaps are ready for signing by now. “At the same time, we have not found common ground on some difficult issues today. However, it does not mean that solutions cannot be found,” the premier added.
Sergei Rumas informed that the premiers gave additional instructions to the governments to work on possible solutions. “There were four unresolved issues related to some sensitive roadmaps – the oil and gas markets. We have agreed on two of them today. At the same time, the remaining issues are complex, and possible solutions will be submitted for consideration to the heads of state,” Sergei Rumas said.
“We have made substantial progress today and we have built a better understanding of the bottlenecks. We decided to take a week to discuss these matters again. After that this package of documents comprising various solutions suggested by the parties will be forwarded for scrutiny to the heads of state,” Sergei Rumas said.
