Mezentsev: Belarus, Russia on finish line in implementing 28 Union State programmes

Belarus and Russia have significantly accelerated the Union State construction even before the start of the special military operation, and the implementation of a package of 28 joint programmes is at its final stage – as informed by the State Secretary of the Union State, Dmitry Mezentsev, in his talk with the Belarus 1 TV channel

Photo: screenshot from Belarus 1 video

Mr. Mezentsev emphasised that the package of 28 Union State programmes – which became a practical basis for deepening integration – was signed by the Belarusian and Russian leaders, Aleksandr Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin, in early November 2021.

“The Union State programmes are a single, interconnected, large-scale, meaningful and professional plan for real economic integration. They were approved by the presidents of the two countries on November 4th, 2021. The stages and volume of measures – that have provided a significant share of the implementation of these programmes as a single package of economic integration – account already for 70-80 percent. A new practice of economic integration has been confirmed for the purposes of a unified industrial policy, a unified policy in agriculture, interaction of the national banks, ensuring access to the protection of personal data of clients of financial institutions, and so on. We are now talking about the formation of unified approaches to the energy market. Special relations are based on the fact that Belarus has become a country of peaceful atom. We are on the finish line of the implementation of the 28 Union State programmes, and the progress is already significant in different areas,” Mr. Mezentsev said.

Speaking of what primarily led to the greater cohesion of Russia and Belarus at this stage of their relations in comparison to the situation observed 4-7 years ago, the State Secretary of the Union State noted, “Is this primarily a response to the external pressure of the collective West, which has shown that we need each other? Or is it mostly a consequence of the decisions of the heads of state, governments, parliaments to be closer to each other in order to reach a new level of ensuring competitiveness, technological sovereignty, to open our countries to millions of people who, if they are Belarusians, are ready to get acquainted with the sights and beauties of Siberia, the Far East, Kamchatka, the European part, the Russian North; if they are Russians – to discover amazingly beautiful Belarus, which is an example of a special attitude to the small homeland, ancestors? Economic integration is the locomotive of interaction at present, and this is not just a response to the external pressure. This is the decision that the governments, ministries, departments reached by November 4th, 2021, and this work began in December 2018. There were disputes and misunderstandings. The most difficult thing was to believe that the implementation of economic integration on such a scale and depth is possible by definition. Technological interaction, reconciliation of positions on the preparation of the economic integration programme was accompanied by an understanding of how we can help each other. This is no less important than the agreement on the documents that were signed even before the introduction of most severe measures taken by the West to weaken us.”