Minsk hosts Supreme State Council of Union State

The Belarusian capital hosts the Supreme State Council of the Union State. The event is significant at all levels. It was prepared in detail by ministries, regional authorities, industry and production experts. More than a hundred accredited journalists gathered in the Palace of Independence. The key goal of the bilateral meeting of the leaders of the two countries is to outline the course of the Union State in the coming years, as well as to resolve a number of controversial issues. The talks between Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin were preceded by the meeting of the Supreme State Council. The meeting in this format is an opportunity to look at the whole range of bilateral relations and a program of coordinated foreign policy actions. Minsk and Moscow have to react together to all the events in the world and therefore close coordination is necessary. Special attention is paid to the Union economy. Over the past year, the dynamics has improved, the trade turnover exceeded 32 billion dollars. It is important to eliminate mutual barriers and create equal competitive environment.

Of course, most of these talks will be held behind closed doors fr om the press, this is traditional.

While the leaders communicate behind the closed doors, the ministers have an opportunity to discuss the issues informally. Of course, the meeting of heads of state was preceded by large-scale work by parliamentarians in Brest and the government in Moscow.

Today Belarus and Russia are connected in all spheres. The plans of agriculture include the creation of joint breeding centers in animal husbandry.

The Presidents discussed all the issues in detail.

Of course, the central issue is the Union economy. Last year, the trade turnover between Belarus and Russia increased by almost a quarter. The total volume of trade is 32 billion dollars.

The positive trend continues: Minsk and Moscow are trying to reach that record level. At the same time, Alexander Lukashenko draws attention, that issues of the bilateral agenda should not be transferred to the EAEU platform.

The level of integration can be estimated not only by the figures of trade turnover. For example, in mechanical engineering, wh ere we have many examples of reliable cooperation, one job creates ten in the related industries. And since the emergence of the Union State due to this unity, the total number of jobs increased by three million!

The today's meeting was devoted to the expansion of cooperation. The decline in trade has been overcome, we have reached the growth trend. Vladimir Putin proposes to set an ambitious bar for trade-fifty billion dollars.

They discussed in detail only three key documents. One of them indicates the priority directions of development of the Union state for the next 5 years. It includes actions to remove barriers, coordinated industrial policy, the formation of a single fuel market and other issues. They also signed the program of action in foreign policy (it retained the course of strengthening cooperation in the CIS and the CSTO and agreed positions in international organizations). And today they decided to establish a prize of the Union State in the field of science and technology, it will be an incentive for scientists of the two countries. As a result of a busy day of negotiations, none of the planned documents was left without a signature.

In memory of this meeting, the leaders exchanged gifts. Alexander Lukashenko presented a picture of St. Petersburg. Vladimir Putin presented to the Belarusian leader a souvenir set and an unusual samovar with the symbols of the World Cup.

The Supreme State Council and the meeting of the Presidents today have once again confirmed that the controversial issues that sometimes arise will be resolved in a spirit of mutual understanding and compromise. Such words of Alexander Lukashenko ended the today's negotiation day.