Europe News Desk!! Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko have resolved to advance the integration process between the two countries. The two leaders made the remarks while jointly chairing a meeting of the Supreme State Councils of the Federation of Russia and Belarus at the Kremlin on Thursday. At the meeting, Putin said significant achievements had been made in the integration of the 28 priority areas approved during the previous Supreme State Council meeting in 2021, Xinhua news agency reported. So far, both the governments and the concerned agencies have completed 74 per cent of the activities planned under those priority programs and the work is yielding tangible results, he said. We will definitely keep it going. Putin said that Russia and Belarus will continue to build a unified oil and gas market, while an agreement on the formation of a single electricity market is being prepared.
In addition, Moscow and Minsk will continue to build defense and security cooperation, which meets the underlying interests of both countries in view of the complex international situation, he told the meeting. Lukashenko stressed the importance of fully implementing the Treaty on the Creation of the Community of Belarus and Russia, signed in 1996. Over the past 27 years since then, the Belarus-Russia trade volume has increased more than 4.5 times. He said that industrial cooperation has resulted in partnership of more than 8,000 Belarusian and Russian enterprises and thousands of jobs have been created. In the defense sector, Lukashenko said the steps taken to strengthen border security effectively protect the central state from international terrorism, uncontrolled migration flows, arms and ammunition smuggling, drug trafficking and illegal economic activities. made possible. Following the meeting, the two sides signed seven documents to further deepen Russia-Belarus integration.
–IANS
World News Desk!!
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