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Russian, Belarusian premiers to hold Union State council of ministers’ meeting December 13

MOSCOW, December 10 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will attend a meeting of the Russia-Belarus Union State Council of Ministers in Moscow on December 13, a spokesman for the Russian government said on Tuesday.

The meeting will be chaired by Medvedev and his Belarusian counterpart Mikhail Myasnikovich. The agenda includes 28 issues embracing the entire spectrum of bilateral integration co-operation and the Union State’s development.

“First of all, the parties will consider the draft budget of the Union State for 2014 and will discuss priority guidelines and high-priority tasks of its development in the medium term (2013-2017),” the government said. “There will be an exchange of views on Belarus-Russia co-operation in trade, economic, energy, scientific and technical, social and military spheres alongside in the field of education, culture and art.”

There are plans to sign a number of bilateral agreements, including an intergovernmental agreement on co-operation in the use and development of the Earth and the Global Navigation Satellite System GLONASS, on the early notification of nuclear accidents and information sharing on nuclear and radiation safety, as well as on co-operation in the field of aerospace rescue and recovery.

The two sides are also due to sign a protocol on the extension of the December, 9 2010 agreement on the payment and transfer of export customs duties on oil and certain categories of products made from it when exported from the territory of Belarus outside the Customs Union.

The Union State of Russia and Belarus is a supranational entity formed in 1999 as a unique attempt at political and economic integration among the former Soviet republics.

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