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Reconciliation of Belarus-Russia cooperation roadmaps nearing completion
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MINSK, 10 June (BelTA) – The reconciliation of roadmaps on Belarus-Russia cooperation within the framework of the Union State of Belarus and Russia is in the final stage, BelTA learned from Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Belarus Yevgeny Lukyanov on 10 June.
According to the ambassador, work on reconciling 27 out of the 28 so-called roadmaps or, in other words, Union State programs is nearly finished.
“The process of their reconciliation continues but it is in the final stage. Work on the 28th roadmap remains unfinished,” Yevgeny Lukyanov said. In his words, the 27th roadmap has been accepted by Belarus and Russia as a whole, formal intrastate procedures have to be done now.
Asked to clarify the spheres of integration, the ambassador specified that the Union State program on the tax policy had been reconciled as a whole. Belarus and Russia have yet to reconcile the roadmap relating to energy resources, mutual payments, prices, and excise duties, Yevgeny Lukyanov said.
Yevgeny Lukyanov went on saying that Belarus-Russia economic cooperation has to be mutually beneficial. “Russia does not build relations with anyone to the detriment of third parties or relations based on unequal terms that are not mutually beneficial. It is not our way,” he said. “We are very pragmatic. It is possible to build relations based on submission but they won’t last. Such a structure will start creaking sooner or later. But if mutual interest is constantly generated and reaffirmed, then the structure will last. This is the only way.”
“We have to complement each other. We have to integrate our economies. I am not talking about one economy taking over the other one. I am saying we should not compete with each other on foreign and home markets. We should build our relations in a way so that these integration processes would equally benefit Russia and Belarus,” the Russian ambassador said. “It is a very delicate, complicated process that cannot be completed in one go. This is why the most important thing in our integration processes and in the creation of the Union State of Belarus and Russia is not a revolutionary movement because it is impossible to bring about a different economy with an act of legislation right away. A method of trial and error, evolution is important.”
Yevgeny Lukyanov praised the Union State of Belarus and Russia as a project. He said he had been delighted to be appointed Russia’s ambassador to Belarus. “But participation in the unique process called the Union State is the most important thing for me as a diplomat and the head of the Russian mission to Belarus. There is nothing like that in the world, now and in the past, no analog of the creation of such a Union State by two sovereign and independent countries. There is nothing like that in human experience and the experience of diplomacy, international relations. I am delighted to be part of this process because I am sure the success of this project will give a new example of cooperation, joint work to the world, and most importantly it will produce a synergistic result of work for citizens of Russia and Belarus,” the Russian ambassador concluded.
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