MINSK, 18 January (BelTA) - All legislative innovations should stimulate the growth of the Belarusian economy, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a meeting with the leadership of the Council of Ministers in Minsk on 18 January, BelTA has learned.
"The government said that the changes are necessary for legal harmonization of Belarus and Russia, that is, as part of the Union State program. However, the state interests must not be infringed upon during the unification process," the president highlighted.
The president recalled that when two countries decided to unify their legislation, including customs legislation, there were proposals to "create almost a single ministry or customs committee". "We categorically refused to do this. We agreed, including in the Supreme State Council [of the Union State] that we will set up a single group that will make recommendations, observe the implementation of customs controls and so on, without depriving the state of these powers and functions. This shows that we, Russia and Belarus, are sovereign, independent states. We must proceed from this when making certain decisions," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
"All innovations should stimulate the growth of the Belarusian economy and push it to a qualitatively new level. This is the most important task for all state institutions, including customs," Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out.
The president addressed the government a number of topical questions on this subject: whether the changes really are up to date, how the needs of the Belarusian economy are taken into account, how the innovations will affect the work of the Customs Committee of Belarus? Have all the initiatives been taken into account? Have we missed anything important?" Aleksandr Lukashenko asked.