Opinion: Belarus-Russia summit confirms high pace of integration

MINSK, 21 December (BelTA) – The talks between Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have confirmed the high pace of integration and the great scale of the tasks facing the Belarus-Russia Union State, Dmitry Golubnichy, an analyst at the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Research (BISR), told BelTA commenting on the talks between the two presidents.

“First of all, it is noteworthy that the talks had practical significance. Indeed, they contributed to the progress in resolving pending integration issues as sensitive aspects of these issues were addressed at the presidential level. The nature of the event gave bilateral cooperation the necessary ideological reinforcement, and helped build a better understanding of the future of the Union State, its development vectors and agenda,” said Dmitry Golubnichy.

In addition, this event contributed to the formation of a positive image of integration where economy dominates the agenda. “Being under sanctions, it is difficult to move forward, but Belarus and Russia manage to do it. A testimony to that is, for example, the import substitution program that will become a key driver of Belarus-Russia relations,” the analyst said.

“In general, given the complexity of the international situation and the likelihood that our long-term development prospects will be affected by continuing confrontation, still one of the development scenarios for the Union State provides that the international confrontation will become less acute,” the expert added. “In such a scenario, positive effects of any integration processes will be significantly multiplied. In these conditions, it will become important that Belarus continues to promote a constructive agenda and declares the need to discuss regional security and the future world order with the help of a multilateral equal dialogue,” he added.