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Union State Parliamentary Assembly opens 40th anniversary session

Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly and State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov opened the session

MOSCOW, November 21 (Itar-Tass) —— The Parliamentary Assembly of the Belarusian-Russian Union State opened its 40th anniversary session here on Monday. Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly and State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov opened the session.

“The Union State Parliamentary Assembly along with meetings of the Council of Ministers and the Supreme State Council of the Union State are the stages on the path of gradual advance to integration,” he noted. “Probably, the main result of our activities became the fact that we succeeded to turn theoretical categories, which are linked with the construction of the Union State, in the realities of the daily life of our citizens,” Gryzlov believes. “The common system of social guarantees, the equal access to education and health care services, the freedom of movement and a free choice of the place of residence, equal conditions for employment are taken by the citizens of our countries as natural and usual,” he pointed out.

“Union programs and events, for the implementation of which more than 90% of union state budget is spent, are one of the most important instruments in the development of economic integration between Russia and Belarus,” the speaker said. “Union programs, which are seeking to promote modernization, creation and development of advanced trends in science and technologies, were set as the top priorities,” he said.

“What was tested in the Union State is successfully used in the enlarged format,” Gryzlov remarked. “The creation of the Customs Union and the following formation of the Common Economic Space and the creation of a Eurasian Economic Union in the future became reality,” he added.

The lawmakers will primarily have to debate and approve the Union State budget for the next year, settle several personnel and organizational issues at a current session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State. Most revenues in the Union State budget “are yielded from the contributions of the member-countries,” the press service of the Parliamentary Assembly reported earlier. In 2012 the contributions of the member-countries will remain at the level of 2011 that will make 4.872 billion Russian roubles, including 3.167 billion roubles of Russian contributions, 1.705 billion roubles of Belarusian contributions.

The Supreme State Council of the Union State will have a next meeting in Moscow on November 25. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will pay a working visit to Russia to attend the meeting, the Kremlin press service underlined.

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