GORKI, November 19. /TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday he hopes that the Russian and Belarusian governments would be able ro reach an agreement on integration-related issues by December 8.
"We are quite capable of reaching an agreement. I am convinced that political decisions that require a difficult choice between economic factors to promote integration are quite achievable as well, like it was when the Eurasian Economic Union was formed," Medvedev said after the Russian-Belarusian talks.
"We will do our best to agree on a common set of solutions, our work by December 8," he added. "I cannot anticipate the outcome of this work but I am sure we can reach consensus on the absolute majority of roadmaps, and this consensus will be a solid basis for discussion between the two presidents. And it will be up to them to make a final decision."
The Russian prime minister admitted that "it is a difficult work" to agree on all the integration aspects. "Coordinated efforts of the two countries’ government are needed for that. We see such efforts on the part of our partners, our Belarusian friends," he noted.
"But it doesn’t mean we have reached an agreement on everything. We have not. There are very difficult topics," he said, giving as an example the energy-related topics. "Each party has its own vision of how to cooperate in future, which principles are to be used and how to regulate this or that sphere, either gas, oil or electricity. Another example are issues related to the future of macroeconomic relations. We spoke about that today: how to carry out regulation on these matters, how to keep statistical records, how to conduct customs policies," he added.
"Each of the issues has a lot of nuances," Medvedev admitted. "But it doesn’t mean that we cannot reach an agreement."