NOVO-OGARYOVO, February 17. /TASS/. Union programs with Russia are nearly 80% completed, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The twenty eight [union integration] programs we outlined are already almost 80% completed. The humanitarian ones mostly remain," Lukashenko said. The main issues have been resolved in the tax and customs spheres, he noted. Facilities have already been arranged for a joint internal revenue committee to work in Belarus, the President said.
"The key questions have been settled," Lukashenko said. There was a kind of competition between the Maz and Kamaz truck plants, the Belarusian leader said. "And now there is no competition. We are making components for Kamaz and Kamaz is producing for us. When individual companies left, they continued working and there’s enough of a market. There are small problems but this is cooperation," he noted.
Russia and Belarus saw a never-before-seen amount of turnover in goods and services as of 2022 year-end, standing at $50 bln, Lukashenko added.