MINSK, May 24. /TASS/. More than 90% of payments between Russia and Belarus are made in national currencies, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated at a press conference following the Russian-Belarusian negotiations.

He noted that Russia, as the main economic partner, accounts for about 60% of the Belarusian foreign trade balance, and at the end of last year, trade turnover between the countries increased by more than 5% and reached a record $46.5 billion.

"While we are counting this in dollars, and yet over 90% of all payments in Russian-Belarusian commercial transactions are made in our national currencies. This means we can say that mutual trade and investment are protected from the influence of third countries and negative trends in the world currency markets," the Russian leader stressed.

According to Putin, Russia has invested over $5 billion in the Belarusian economy, and more than 2,500 Russian companies operate in the republic. The two countries also implement joint projects in strategically important industries, such as the production of automobiles and machine tools, mechanical engineering, microelectronics, and civil aviation.

The Russian leader noted that cooperation in agriculture is actively developing.

"The agro-industrial sector of Russia and Belarus perfectly complements those areas that are priorities for us in this area," he noted. According to Putin, this makes it possible to reliably and uninterruptedly provide food to the population of states and direct surpluses to foreign markets.