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Moscow and Minsk on schedule for integration targets, says senior diplomat

By November, the sides are expected to coordinate all integration roadmaps, in order to sign an updated integration program for the development of the Union State as soon as in December

© Natalia Fedosenko/TASS

MOSCOW, October 10. /TASS/. Moscow and Minsk are settling issues of integration within the framework of the Union State on a scheduled basis, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told TASS on Thursday.

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"On December 8, we will mark the 20th anniversary of the Treaty on the Creation of a Union State. We have decided that by this date we will prepare a set of roadmaps for the implementation of this agreement, take a look at where we can advance, make an inventory of what is working and what is not," Rudenko said in comments on reports that program documents on the integration will be signed by December 8.

"The point at issue is how to bring our economies closer and remove the persisting obstacles. Everything proceeds on a scheduled basis, we expect that we will manage to do this. And it is definitely not an easy job," the Russian diplomat stressed.

"A special working group led by the economic ministers of the two countries has been set up. We hope that we will be able to meet the deadline," Rudenko emphasized.

In December 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko agreed to set up an intergovernmental working group on cultivating integration, led by the Russian and Belarusian economic ministers, Maxim Oreshkin and Dmitry Krutoy.

On September 6, the two prime ministers initialed the program of action for integration within the Union State. By November, the sides are expected to coordinate all integration roadmaps, in order to sign an updated integration program for the development of the Union State as soon as in December.

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