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Putin for holding Russian-Belarusian inter-regional forum

MOSCOW, December 26, 0:26 /ITAR-TASS/. President Vladimir Putin has supported the idea of holding a Russian-Belarusian inter-regional forum.

“We believe our legislative bodies have made a timely initiative to establish the Russian-Belarusian inter-regional forum,” Putin told a meeting of the Russia-Belarus Union State’s Supreme State Council on Wednesday.

Putin said cooperation between individual regions of the two countries had become an ever more important factor of the consolidation of economic ties.

He cited the data according to which Smolensk, Tyumen and Moscow regions lead among other Russian territories in terms of goods exchange with Belarus.

“The volume of trade between the Russian capital and Belarus made up over 5 billion U.S. dollars in 2012,” the Russian president stated.

Putin also dwelt on the Union budget. He has said the parameters of the 2014 budget of the Union State remain on the previous high level. The funds will go to finance nearly 40 joint programmes and events.

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