MINSK, 20 September (BelTA) – The program designed to make Belarus-Russia integration tighter is within limits of the Treaty of the Union State of Belarus and Russia of 1999, BelTA learned from Anatoly Glaz, Head of the Information and Digital Diplomacy Office, Press Secretary of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on 20 September.
The official said: “The current excitement has been blown out of proportions for no solid reasons. I would like to once again remind you about the title of the draft: The program of action of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation to implement provisions of the Union State Treaty. It is what the document is all about. It cannot contain anything that goes beyond limits of the 1999 Union State Treaty.”
Earlier BelTA quoted Belarusian Economy Minister Dmitry Krutoi as saying that the presidents of Belarus and Russia intend to sign the action program on tighter integration and a number of agreements in December. The official said: “The presidents have to sign the program and a package of roadmaps as well as a number of agreements to address sensitive issues. First of all, natural gas. It will be a presidential package.”
Dmitry Krutoi explained it will be done on 8 December (the 20th anniversary since the Union State Treaty was signed) the way the heads of state have agreed to do it. It may be signed before the date. “The presidents intend to stick to the date they agreed on in St Petersburg. Everything going on now is intermediate work,” Dmitry Krutoi said.
In his words, the action program will offer a framework. “All the specific matters will be stipulated by the roadmaps. After the roadmaps are signed, work on legislation will proceed through 2020. Different degrees of unification have already been achieved in various spheres. If we talk about customs service, virtually everything is unified within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. If we talk about other spheres, people over there don't understand the scale of the necessary changes yet,” the economy minister said.
