Putin: Russia, Belarus advance in development of Union State

ST. PETERSBURG/MINSK, Dec 29 (PRIME) -- Moscow and Minsk have advanced seriously in the development of the Union State of Russia and Belarus in 2021 in the financial, taxation, and customs spheres, President Vladimir Putin told his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday.

“Now we can speak about bilateral relations between Russia and Belarus, about creation of the Union State calmly today. We have actually made a significant step forward this year as we  coordinated positions on the main directions, and 28 development programs of the Union State were approved,” he said.

The programs cover financial, customs, and fiscal legislations, and they are the key for the modern processes of integration, he said.

The Belarusian economy is in a good state now, and Minsk is a reliable partner for Moscow not for political, but economic reasons, he said.

The trade turnover between the two countries grew by almost 36% in 2021 in spite of the coronavirus pandemic after a 17% fall in 2020. Moscow and Minsk have serious plans to improve cooperation, and Lukashenko always supports these plans, Putin said.

He also added that provision of access to the state procurement mechanism of the Russian government for the Belarusian companies was a great step that expands opportunities for Belarus and improves competition in Russia.

Lukashenko thanked Putin for cooperation in the aircraft industry.

“Thank you for supporting cooperation in the aircraft industry. We have civil and military aviation plants,” he said, adding that products of this cooperation are popular with the Russian aviation industry.

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