Belarus and Russia favour the speediest possible forming of a real customs union and single economic space, said the presidents of Belarus and Russia in Minsk after their two-day talks and a session of the Supreme State Council of the Belarus-Russia Union State. On 13-14 December Vladimir Putin was on an official visit to Belarus.

During a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lukashenko said Belarus “is prepared for talks with Russia on all issues”.

Alexander Lukashenko expressed surprise at the excitement caused in the West by Vladimir Putin’s visit to Belarus and said “there’s no any subtext here”.

Vladimir Putin said Belarus and Russia were continuously expanding their bilateral trade, which was expected to reach $24 billion by the end of 2007, a 25 per cent increase from the previous year.

The face-to-face talks lasted for more than four hours. The presidents discussed such topics as the forming of a single economic space, a full-fledged customs union and removing impediments to smooth bilateral trade, among others.

Following the talks, Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin laid a wreath at the Victory monument in Minsk. Then the presidents visited the headquarters of what was formerly known as the JSC Slavneftebank and is now known as the VTB Bank (Belarus). This is a financial institution providing a whole range of banking services since 1996.

The session of the Supreme State Council of the Belarus-Russia Union State had 12 issues on its agenda, including a draft Union State budget 2008, the results of Belarusian-Russian trade and economic cooperation in 2006 and H1 2007, progress in implementing the Programme of Coordinated Actions in Foreign Policy by the States Parties to the Treaty on the Creation of the Union State 2006-2007 and the conferring of Union State prizes in literature and arts for 2007-2008.

Opening the session, Alexander Lukashenko said that Belarus has been invariably regarding Russia as its main strategic partner. The mutually advantageous nature of Belarusian-Russian cooperation is seen by the vigorous growth of bilateral trade, Alexander Lukashenko said. In terms of trade with Russia, Belarus stands next to such industrial giants as the USA, China and Germany.

“Our countries have reached the highest level of integration interaction, at which the sides are already developing joint actions and consciously handing over specific national powers for the sake of tackling common tasks,” said the President of the Republic of Belarus.

According to him, Belarus together with Russia intends to counter new modern-day threats. Alexander Lukashenko said that Belarus is prepared to play its role in the issue of the probable deployment by the US of its missile defence systems in Europe, and to closely coordinate its activities with the Russian side as to the adaptation of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty.

The session of the Supreme State Council took decisions on all 12 agenda issues. The Union State budget 2008 will surpass RUB 4 billion and will be spent on manufacturing, energy, construction, military projects, on law-enforcement activities and enhancing Union State security, social projects and initiatives in other areas. All in all, the budget will finance 38 programmes, subprogrammes and initiatives.

At the conclusion of the summit, Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin signed a joint statement, in which they point our the importance of consolidating interaction between Belarus and Russia in trade, economic, fuel and energy spheres, based on the principles of sovereign equality, market economy, mutual benefits and consideration of interests.

According to Vladimir Putin, the relations between Belarus and Russia are fundamental and truly strategic. Russia will not make energy prices for Belarus bigger than it is stipulated in the contracts the two countries have signed to date. Vladimir Putin confirmed Russia’s intention to provide Belarus a $1.5 billion credit for 15 years, with a 5 year deferment of the debt payments.

Ensuring stable energy supplies to Europe, Belarus and Russia expect understanding and adequate steps from Europe, Alexander Lukashenko said.