GRODNO, July 1. /TASS/. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that Western sanctions pushed Minsk and Moscow to speed up decisions on introducing their own payment systems and settlements in national currencies.
"The West's insane sanctions have pushed us towards finding faster solutions in transportation and logistics, as well as implementing our own payment systems and settlements in national currencies," he said.
The president recalled that the Supreme State Council of the Union State decided to deepen bilateral economic integration, aimed at creating a new environment for the circulation of goods and services between the two countries, creating united industry markets. "This also includes further convergence of macroeconomic policies of the two states, harmonizing currency regulation, giving equal access to government orders and purchases, introducing common competition rules and maintaining equal consumer rights," Lukashenko said.
He noted that the parties are already started forming a unified industrial and a unified agricultural policy of the Union State.