MINSK, 7 December (BelTA) – Press Secretary of the Belarus President Natalya Eismont made a few comments about the atmosphere of negotiations during the session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, which took place in St Petersburg on 6 December. The press secretary's comments are quoted by the news agency Sputnik Belarus, BelTA has learned.
Multiple mass media publications about results of the EAEU summit focused on the debate between the Belarusian and Russian heads of state instead of the real results of the meeting. Natalya Eismont responded by saying: “Most likely, reporters tend to hear what they want to hear”.
Natalya Eismont expressed agreement with her Russian counterpart Dmitry Peskov, who had earlier commented on progress of yesterday's talks. “First of all, I absolutely agree with my colleague – the negotiations were extremely useful and constructive. As for the rest, most likely reporters tend to hear what they want to hear,” she said.
“How did it go? During the session the presidents discussed the agenda – digital technologies, the removal of barriers, oil and gas issues… It is understandable that there were debates, serious ones at times, during which the appointment of the CSTO secretary general was mentioned. The matter was hotly debated, extremely so at times as far as I know, arguments were being flung back and forth. Apologies were extended later on. Due to the storm of emotions all the leaders had to extend apologies to each other,” said Natalya Eismont.
Natalya Eismont also specified how the decision on appointing a new CSTO secretary general will be implemented. She said: “Everything will be done in strict compliance with the organization's charter. As of today it has been decided that the decision on appointing the CSTO secretary general will be signed by the heads of state in a routine manner. It will be done like this: the candidate – Belarus' representative – will go to each CSTO member state one by one starting with Kyrgyzstan, which presides now, so that the heads of state could have kind of an interview with him.” If the “interview” is positive, the president of the CSTO member state will sign the appointment papers. “As for the quorum – as far as I know, the president of Kazakhstan mentioned it – if some country chooses not to sign some decision, then the charter allows the country not to comply with the decision,” added the press secretary.
