News photo: exhibition of documents dedicated to 25th anniversary of Union State Treaty launched in Moscow

A photo documentary exhibition dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Union State Treaty opened at the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Reception House in Moscow

The opening ceremony of the show featuring photos and documents that reflect the milestones of the functioning of the two countries’ union was attended by representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry, diplomats of the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in the Russian Federation, and members of the Standing Committee of the Union State.

As noted by Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, the Russian-Belarusian integration initiative is the most ambitious and advanced of the existing integration formats, “For a quarter of a century, a long path has been passed to achieve the stated goals. A common socio-economic, humanitarian, defence, migration and information space is being formed. Close co-operation and allied mutual support have been established in the international arena and in the field of security. Virtually equal rights and opportunities for citizens to freedom of movement, choice of place of stay and residence, employment, education, medical and social assistance are provided in the Union State, and we have no plans to stop here.”

Mr. Galuzin added that the foreign ministries of Russia and Belarus see the provision of diplomatic support for large-scale integration solutions as a priority task in the development of the Union State.

“We are convinced that thanks, among other things, to co-operation within the framework of the Union State, we will overcome all difficulties, confirming the correctness of the course chosen 25 years ago for the unity and joint development of Belarus and Russia,” Dmitry Fomchenko, the Adviser-Envoy of the Embassy of Belarus in Russia, supported his Russian colleague.

The Belarusian diplomat noted that the signing of the document that launched the Union State building was a historic decision reflecting the desire of both peoples to strengthen bilateral relations based on centuries-old traditions of fraternal friendship, close economic ties, cultural and spiritual values. “Military and information security is the key area which our co-operation is further intensifying. We are also united in the need to preserve the historical truth, to prevent falsifications and distortions of history. The work on the development of the Union State is certainly continuing. The results that have been achieved are not a reason for complacency," he stated.

In turn, Aleksei Kubrin, the Deputy State Secretary of the Union State, noted in his speech that the photographic documentary materials presented at the exhibition show a retrospective of the development of the Union State, though in a narrow format because of a limited exhibition area. “We have created much more of these materials both within the framework of the Union State and as part of our bilateral liaisons,” he said.

Mr. Kubrin expressed the need to scale the Belarusian-Russian experience of creating a state and forming joint projects to a wider global audience, “We have constantly offered and once again offer our colleagues from other unions that have been formed – including CIS, CSTO and EAEU – the technologies that we have implemented. Our programmes allow us to solve issues related to high technologies and basic research, and maybe they will be interesting for consideration at the SCO and BRICS platforms.”