MINSK, 22 August (BelTA) – Belarus' Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei met with State Secretary of the Belarus-Russia Union State Grigory Rapota on 22 August, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The parties talked over Belarus-Russia cooperation within the Union State and also the activity of the Union State Standing Committee,” the ministry said.
As BelTA reported earlier, Grigory Rapota met with Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko in Minsk in July. Then, the head of state emphasized a number of unresolved issues in the Belarusian-Russian relations and said that the state secretary should keep the situation under control, participate in the negotiations as the head of the Union State committee. Following the meeting, the Belarusian president, as the chairman of the Supreme State Council, instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to look into the possibility for representatives of the Standing Committee to take part in the activities of the Belarusian-Russian working group. In turn, Grigory Rapota assured that the Standing Committee was ready to do everything in its power to develop the Union State in accordance with the agreement of 1999.
During the meeting with Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the 6th Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia in St Petersburg on 18 July, Aleksandr Lukashenko suggested removing all the issues in bilateral relations before the two states celebrate 20 years of the Union State Treaty in December 2019. “In December we will celebrate 20 years of our Union State Treaty. I believe we cannot leave any unsolved issue behind by that time. Therefore, I suggest that we remove all the issues by that date and approve a program that will determine the strategy of our actions and remove current problems,” the Belarusian leader said.
