Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 19 January (BelTA) - Belarus and Russia will need to work hard to restore trade to previous levels, Belarus’ Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said as he met with State Secretary of the Belarus-Russia Union State Grigory Rapota, BelTA has learned.

"This year we will need to update all our plans and ideas. Unfortunately, not everything that we planned was implemented in 2015. I believe we will have to work hard to restore trade as there was a significant slowdown,” said Andrei Kobyakov. The Belarusian head of government said that the economies of the two countries are adapting to the new economic conditions. "I think we will reinvigorate our economic cooperation programs which were not put on halt but were implemented at a slower pace,” he said.

Andrei Kobyakov stressed the need to ensure that economic agents of the two countries get a new impetus to mutual cooperation.

The Prime Minister noted that the session of the Supreme State Council of the Union State is scheduled to take place in Minsk in the first quarter of 2016. "We will discuss the agenda, make sure that it is packed so that this event give momentum to our cooperation," said Andrei Kobyakov.

The Belarusian head of government said that he is going to visit several regions of Russia soon, St. Petersburg in particular. "we are discussing the meeting with our Tatarstan partners," Andrei Kobyakov said.