Mezentsev on Belarus-Russia co-operation: Union State budget fulfilled by 99.7%

The implementation of the Union State programmes in the areas of defence, security, law enforcement, defence-industrial and military-technical co-operation, as well as social policy and economy is being assessed by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of Belarus today

According to State Secretary of the Union State Dmitry Mezentsev, there are currently 8 programmes and 2 projects of the Union State.

“It is very important to understand that the partners are the ministries and departments of Belarus and Russia, which have shown a very clear, mutually balanced and efficient work in the past year,” he emphasised.

As noted by the State Secretary, the Union State budget has been fulfilled by 99.7 percent, and these figures are submitted to the State Control Committee, the Accounts Chamber and the Finance Ministry.

“These are not just figures,” he stressed. “This is the result of well-co-ordinated work in the sphere of microelectronics, car manufacturing, electronics, materials science, and in the sphere of three programmes that concern the Union State defence and security.”

According to Mr. Mezentsev, Mikhail Mishustin, as Chairman of the Union State Council of Ministers, has been presented with the proposals that were agreed upon with the members of the Union State Government, Head of Belarus’ Government Roman Golovchenko, on the prospective areas of activity for the next 3-5 years.

“This does not mean that all these proposals will be supported,” he explained. “Besides, today we will also listen to the NAS proposals,” he noted.

Taking this opportunity, the State Secretary of the Union State expressed gratitude to Vladimir Gusakov, the leadership of the Russian Academy of Sciences, for the fact that today the two countries’ academies and the Kurchatov Institute have taken on the functions of expertise of those scientific proposals, which – having passed through the filters of evaluation and preparation of proposals at the level of the Union State Government – can become new projects and programmes within the framework of a unified integration agenda.

“I would also like to make a special mention of the decision taken by the Supreme State Council, supported by Vladimir Putin and Aleksandr Lukashenko, to form a single scientific and technological space of the Union State until 2030,” Mr. Mezentsev said. “This is a regime that ensures a proper level of competitiveness of national economies. And not just a proper level of import substitution, but the formation of those innovative proposals that will allow scientists from Belarus and Russia to be instigators of new approaches in the field of AI and in the continuation of digitalisation programmes in the national economy and social sphere. Of course, today we are also talking about humanitarian programmes, particularly, about new publications. All the more so because we have a special respect for the feat of the Soviet people who won the Great Patriotic War.”

According to Mr. Mezentsev, this is significant because the Union State Supreme State Council approved a comprehensive plan to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War.

“This plan is not until May 9th, it is this year’s plan,” he stressed. “And we want the 41 events of the Union State, which are humanitarian in nature, to correlate with the event for which our brotherly peoples and all honest people are preparing, who do not allow the West to put pressure on us, forcing us to erase the historical memory, downplaying the role of the Soviet people in this great victory.”