MOSCOW, 3 November (BelTA) – Belarus and Russia are the closest strategic allies, BelTA learned from the materials sent by the Kremlin press service ahead of President of Russia Vladimir Putin's participation in the videoconference session of the Supreme State Council of the Union State of Belarus and Russia scheduled for 4 November.
According to the Kremlin press service, Belarus and Russia are the closest strategic allies. The brotherly peoples of the two countries are connected by long-standing traditions of friendship and mutual assistance, cultural and spiritual affinity, the common historical past, plans and future prospects. Versatile mutually beneficial cooperation advances, including cooperation in trade, economy, foreign policy, defense, military technology, cooperation between parliaments, interregional cooperation, and cooperation in cultural and humanitarian affairs, the source said.
Over the course of more than 20 years since the Treaty on the Establishment of the Union State of Belarus and Russia was signed on 8 December 1999, conditions have been enabled to secure equal rights of citizens of Belarus and Russia with regard to social security, access to education, medical aid. The realization of interstate economic, defensive, and social programs, projects, and measures is an important direction in Belarus-Russia integration efforts, the Kremlin press service said. They are financed by the Union State budget among other sources, with RUB4.7 billion appropriated for 2021.
The Supreme State Council of the Union State of Belarus and Russia is the key governing body of the Union State. The council makes decisions on the most important matters concerning Belarus-Russia integration. The council includes the heads of state, the heads of government, and speakers of both chambers of the parliaments. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko is the chairman of the Supreme State Council. The previous session of the Supreme State Council took place in Minsk on 19 June 2018.
According to the Kremlin press service, on 4 November participants of the Supreme State Council session are supposed to approve a package of important integration documents, including the main guidelines on implementing provisions of the Treaty on the Establishment of the Union State of Belarus and Russia for the 2021-2023 period and 28 sectoral Union State programs. These programs determine the trajectory of joint work virtually in all spheres of cooperation – production sector, power engineering, finance, and agribusiness, the Kremlin press service explained. They provide for reconciling approaches to macroeconomics, tax regulation and customs regulation, and monetary management as a whole. Union State programs involve transport market, merchandise marking, payment systems, veterinary and phytosanitary control, consumer rights protection, and unification of legislation in the social and labor sphere.
The agenda of the Supreme State Council session also includes the adoption of a renewed military doctrine of the Union State and a concept of the Union State migration policy. Apart from that, results of Belarus-Russia trade and economic cooperation in 2020 and in January-June 2021 will be analyzed as well as progress in fulfilling previous decisions of the Supreme State Council. Participants of the session will formalize a resolution on bestowing this year's Union State awards in the sphere of science and technology upon Belarusian and Russian scientists and specialists in recognition of outstanding results in joint scientific research and development of new equipment, vehicles, machines, and progressive technologies.
The Kremlin press service reminded that the state and prospects of development of the Union State of Belarus and Russia are also discussed at sessions of the Union State Council of Ministers (the latest session took place in Minsk on 10 September) and sessions of the High-Level Group of the Union State Council of Ministers (this year's videoconference sessions of the High-Level Group took place on 26 January, 7 April, 2 July, and 9 August). A bilateral working group on realizing provisions of the Union State Establishment Treaty was set up in 2019 in order to prepare proposals on further integration interaction of the two countries within the framework of the Union State of Belarus and Russia.
According to the Kremlin press service, close attention is paid to deeper integration within the framework of the Union State of Belarus and Russia during regular bilateral contacts at the top level and the high level. Meetings of Aleksandr Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin took place in Sochi on 22 February and 28 May, in Moscow on 22 April and 9 September, and in St Petersburg on 13 July. Negotiations of the Belarusian and Russian heads of government took place in Moscow on 26 January, in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 5 February, in Minsk on 16 April and 27 April, in Kazan on 28 April, and in Cholpon Ata, Kyrgyzstan on 19 August. The parliamentary dimension is significant: regular meetings of heads of the parliaments of Belarus and Russia and parliamentary delegations take place regularly in addition to sessions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State of Belarus and Russia.
“Today ahead of the Supreme State Council session State Secretary of the Union State Dmitry Mezentsev delivered a report on various aspects of preparations for forthcoming event to the president of Russia,” the Kremlin press service added.
