MOSCOW, April 6. /TASS/. President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus will hold a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State of Russia and Belarus in Moscow on Thursday.

They will discuss the implementation of the key document - the Basic Guidelines of the Implementation of the Provisions of the Union State Treaty in 2021-2023, which envisages joint work on 28 sectoral programs. The meeting is expected to yield decisions on practical aspects of further integration cooperation.

Preliminary talks

On April 5, the two presidents held one-on-one talks in the Kremlin. They focused on the current bilateral and international agenda. According to the Russian leader, much has been done in all areas of cooperation between Russia and Belarus. He specially noted the results of economic cooperation, with bilateral trade growing by 12% in 2022.

Lukashenko, in turn, recalled that the 28 union programs have been implemented to nearly 80% He stressed that the two countries have been working on these programs for two years.

After the official talks, the two leaders continued communication at an informal dinner.

 

Relations between Russia and Belarus

The two heads of state maintain regular contacts, with Wednesday’s talks being their second offline meeting this year. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov noted earlier that Putin and Lukashenko are always in touch with each other, maintaining close dialogue. The Kremlin, in his words, does not inform about all of their contacts.

On April 2, the two countries marked Day of the Unity of the Peoples of Russia and Belarus. Putin and Lukashenko exchanged congratulations on this occasion. The Russian president noted that closer allied ties are in the interests of both Russia and Belarus and their peoples are linked by good traditions of friendship and good neighborhood. Lukashenko, in turn, stressed that Belarusian-Russian friendship rests on the principles of equality, mutual respect, trust and support, historical unity and commitment to the shared moral and spiritual values.

Prior to that, on March 27, meeting of the Union State’s Council of Ministers was held in Moscow. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin stated back then that the two countries had implemented two thirds of joint plans under the 28 sectoral programs set forth by the leaders in November 2021. His Belarusian counterpart, Roman Golovchenko, noted that Minsk and Moscow had managed to withstand the Western sanctions and ensure the macroeconomic and financial stability of the two countries’ economies.

The meeting yielded 13 documents, including an intergovernmental agreement on scientific-and-technical and innovation cooperation, a resolution on the Union State’s space programs, the Council of Ministers’ resolution on the union program on the development of border security of the Union State for 2023-2027, etc.

Supreme State Council of the Union State

The State Council is the supreme body of the Union State of Russia and Belarus. It is comprised of the heads of state and government and parliament speakers.

The State Council addressed major issues of the Union State’s development, forms its bodies, appoints elections to the House of Representatives of the Union parliament, approves the budget, endorses international agreements of the Union State after their ratification by the parliament.

The previous meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State was held in a videoconference regime in November 2021. It approved a new military doctrine, the Union State’s migration policy concept and a number of other documents.