NUCLEAR POWER IN BELARUS AND WORLDWIDE
Russian-Belarusian relations demonstrate the highest level of integration across the board in the Commonwealth of Independent States, including integration in trade, economy, politics, humanitarian affairs, and defense technology. The relevant statement was made by Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Grigory Karasin during the reception held in the Embassy of Belarus in Russia on 27 June on the occasion of Belarus' Independence Day, BelTA has learned.
Grigory Karasin said: “Serious results have been achieved. They directly influence lives of ordinary citizens in Belarus and Russia, including freedom of employment, the ability to get university education, medical aid, freedom of movement for people and commodities, the removal of many bureaucratic barriers.”
Grigory Karasin remarked that Belarusians and Russians were the first nations to understand the disaster the collapse of the Soviet Union represented. “It is this factor that spurred movement towards integration, which later enthused other countries in the CIS space,” said the official. “A number of agreements were signed right after diplomatic relations were established between Russia and Belarus in 1992. We celebrated the 25th anniversary of this event the other day. The agreements determined terms of interaction in military affairs, finance, trade and economy, transportation, power engineering, social sphere and other areas of bilateral cooperation. The long integration road began that way.”
“Today we can say with satisfaction that problems have been resolved and steps have been sketched out to accomplish a number of tasks relating to power engineering, promotion of manufacturing cooperation, encouragement of investments, enabling of conditions for equal access to each other's markets,” said the Russian deputy minister of foreign affairs.
Ties between regions of Belarus and Russia were mentioned as a distinguishing trait of bilateral cooperation. “The number of those willing to participate in the annual Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia grows year by year. The fourth forum will take place in Moscow on 29-30 June,” said the diplomat. “It will focus on innovations, science and information technologies. The organizers believe that our countries intend to sign a number of contracts worth more than $400 million.”
