Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 6 September (BelTA) – Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Rumas has told reporters about the preparation for the forthcoming Belarus-Russia highest-level talks involving the presidents and government members that are to be held on 21 September, BelTA has learned.

“On Monday I had a conversation with Dmitry Medvedev. You know that in line with the instruction of the heads of state, the governments are getting ready for the 21 September meeting. We have a broad agenda to discuss and we would like to close the chapter on certain issues. We agreed with Dmitry Medvedev that the respective vice premiers will dot the i's and cross the t's on some minor issues, so that the presidents will be able to make decisions on them right away,” the premier noted.

“Today Mikhail Rusy is meeting with his counterpart in Moscow. Igor Petrishenko has an arrangement to hold a meeting in Moscow on 13-14 September. Igor Lyashenko meets with his counterpart every week. I think that we will arrive at certain arrangements after 15 September and together with Dmitry Medvedev we will be able to cement them somehow,” Sergei Rumas said.

When asked about the need for external borrowing, the head of government confirmed that Belarus has plans to refinance $1 billion in 2019. “It is one of the points of the broad agenda with the Russian Federation. We are in talks about it now,” he said.

Apart from that, the agenda of the 21 September meeting will include provision of the sixth and seventh tranches of the loan from the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development to the total amount of $400 million.