Opinions & Interviews

Rapota: Positive trend in Belarus-Russia Union State

MOSCOW, 2 April (BelTA) – Despite some difficulties emerging in relations between Belarus and Russia, the Union State posts a positive trend, State Secretary of the Union State Grigory Rapota said at a press conference timed to the Day of Unity of the Peoples of Belarus and Russia on 2 April, BelTA has learned.

Grigory Rapota recalled that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Union State Treaty. “Any process is born out of discussions, debate, clashes of opinions, and it is normal. The most important thing is the positive trend and I am ready to prove it every day. I wish this trend remains in place,” he noted.

According to Grigory Rapota, over its 20-year history the Union State generated positive momentum in all the areas and sectors. “However, I would like to highlight three of them and list them in a certain order. The first of them deals with social matters that cover a broad range of events, solutions and actions designed to create a comfortable living environment for Russians and Belarusians across the entire territory of the Union State. In other words, the goal is to create the conditions enabling Russians to feel home in Belarus and Belarusians to feel home in Russia. I don’t mean to say that all the issues are resolved here, but the progress is obvious,” he noted.

The second area of work deals with economy. “Absolutely tangible results in the most complicated area- economy. This sector stands out for a number of reasons. First of all, there are a great number of outstanding issues, though also a great number of accomplished tasks. In other words, we have preserved contacts between manufacturers, traditions of cooperation, there are improvements in the structure of trade, there is understanding where we should go and there are some visible recent trends for closer cooperation in the manufacturing industry,” he noted. 

Cooperation in defense and politics is another area where the two countries achieved considerable progress. “We mention it least often, maybe because there are fewer problems here. There is absolute understanding between the military of the two countries; there is also absolute understanding regarding the objectives and tasks related to the Union State security, there are no disagreements here. The third area of work is closely connected with foreign policy relations,” Grigory Rapota noted.

print version

make home page

add to bookmarks