Opinions & Interviews

BRYANSK, 18 December (BelTA) - The ministries of foreign affairs of Belarus and Russia have been working hard on the draft agreement on mutual recognition of visas, State Secretary of the Union State Grigory Rapota said at the 53^rd session of the Parliamentary Assembly on 16 December, BelTA has learned.

According to Grigory Rapota, the Union State is currently discussing the priority directions of its activity for 2018-2022. The corresponding document consists of 19 sections, and the secretary of state provided details on some of them.

One of them concerns the coordination of cooperation in migration policy, which envisages the signing of an agreement on mutual recognition of visas. According to Grigory Rapota, there is an instruction of the Supreme State Council to sign it before the end of this year. “The work on the agreement is in full swing, mainly by the ministries of foreign affairs, which gives us hope that the document will be signed,” he said. The document provides an opportunity to regulate the crossing of the Russian-Belarusian border by third-country nationals. “Until now, this issue has not been regulated,” the secretary of state said.

Another point of the program through 2022 concerns the improvement of the budget policy, including unused funds, which since 2016 have been part of the Union State budget revenue. Thus, the budget is almost RUB7 billion. “This year, Russian and Belarusian ministries have taken active steps to propose a number of projects that, given the implementation of programs and projects, will significantly reduce the balance of the previous years, about by a half,” said Grigory Rapota. According to him, it will help reach a more balanced budget as a result.

The 53^rd session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State of Belarus and Russia was held in Bryansk on 16 December. The main item on the agenda was the parliamentary hearings on the harmonization of the legislation in ensuring equal rights for citizens of the two countries. In addition, the draft resolution on the establishment of the Youth Chamber was submitted for consideration. The document also contains a proposal for the two countries to determine the order for the delegation of their representatives.