ST. PETERSBURG, January 28. /TASS/. Russia and Belarus are actively developing their relations, with trade between them growing constantly, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with his visiting Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko.
"In general, the situation in our relations is developing dynamically. In the first ten months of 2023, our trade, according to our data, amounted to 42.5 billon US dollars. It keeps on growing. Russia is the biggest investor - our investments to the Belarusian economy stand at four billion US dollars. This work is proceeding in a bilateral mode. Our companies, our businesses are operating in Belarus and our Belarusian friends are developing the Russian market, actively working here," he said.
According to the Russian leader, the two countries are developing ties in all spheres: in the economy, agriculture, science, education, culture.
He thanked Lukashenko for coming to St. Petersburg. "I am very glad that you have agreed to somewhat change the schedule of our joint work. I mean our tomorrow’s joint work within the Supreme Council of the Union State [of Russia and Belarus] bearing in mind that Leningrad, St. Petersburg is marking the 80th anniversary of breaking the Nazi siege of Leningrad," Putin added.