Union State programmes fulfilled by 80 percent

The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, and the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, held a meeting in Novo-Ogaryovo near Moscow

Photo by BELTA

Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasised that Russia and Belarus have an unprecedented turnover of goods and services by the end of 2022, “$50 billion. About $44 billion is trade in goods as you said. The rest are services… 

I was pleasantly surprised by what the ambassador told me on the way here. According to him, your companies ordered more than $300 million worth of products from our IT specialists. They paid more than $300 million. Everyone was screaming: IT specialists had fled from Belarus and Russia and so on… Russian placed orders worth $300 million in Belarus alone. And if we take Russian IT specialists, orders will amount to several billion dollars. Thus, ‘peace-loving’ countries failed to drive us into a corner so that the brightest minds, as they said, would flee our countries. This means that import substitution is making progress.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko also stated that Belarus fully abides by its defence and security agreements with Russia, “All our agreements on defence and security for last year that we discussed quite recently, three months ago, were fulfilled by Belarus by 100 percent. And even over-fulfilled.”
According to the Belarusian leader, there is also progress in the microelectronics industry, “We were concerned that we were too dependent on imports. In a week I am having a meeting on the topic that we discussed in Sochi. We have retained the microelectronics industry that we inherited from the Soviet Union. We have also reached agreements with the Russian companies that were set up in the Soviet period. And today experts say: Don’t worry, tell Vladimir Vladimirovich that we will do everything. Well, the tasks are bigger this time... We know how to move forward. This is the most important thing. People know their job… We have made progress in import substitution. I will not say that we have resolved all the issues, but we did move forward.”
As noted, co-operation has also been established between enterprises that previously viewed each other as competitors. These are, in particular, MAZ and KAMAZ.
“Remember, there was some red tape with respect to the co-operation between these companies. Now there is no competition. We produce component parts for KAMAZ, and KAMAZ makes goods for us. Certain Western companies left. The domestic companies have enough room on the market now,” the President of Belarus stated.
However, there is still work to be done. There are certain issues in matters of co-operation, noted the Head of the Belarusian State.
Aircraft construction industry was also cited as a positive example.

“You once raised the question of co-operation in aircraft production in the Eurasian Economic Union. So I should tell you that the Belarusians are already producing up to a thousand component parts for the MC-21 и and Sukhoi Superjet 100. We have three factories: two military and one civilian. They used to be repair shops. Today they produce component parts. As I was informed by the government, they are ready for the production of the Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft that have proved to be efficient in Ukraine. We are even ready to produce them in Belarus if the Russian Federation provides a little bit of technological support,” the President of Belarus noted. 

Aleksandr Lukashenko added that we are doing everything to overcome the barriers that are artificially created for Belarus and Russia.
“I’m not talking about food. We have ensured food security. I’m not talking about clothes. We manufacture these products across the board. Therefore, the positive changes are huge. We will have something to say to the peoples of Belarus and Russia at the Supreme State Council meeting,” the Belarusian leader said.
In turn, Vladimir Putin, reacting to what was said by his Belarusian counterpart, stressed, “Well, not only to say, but, I think, to outline, together with our governments, ways for further development.”
“Indeed. The 28 programmes that we have outlined with you, have already been fulfilled by about 80 percent. As you noted in St. Petersburg, it is mostly humanitarian issues that are yet to be addressed. In terms of customs and tax matters, we have adopted laws,” Aleksandr Lukashenko continued.
Recently, co-operation has been established between MAZ and KAMAZ
Photo by Aleksey Vyazmitinov

“Key points have been resolved,” the Russian President agreed.
“Indeed, the key matters have been settled,” the Belarusian Head of State concurred.
In this regard, Vladimir Putin expressed confidence that all this ‘will make our economies even more competitive’.
The President of Russia noted that Belarus managed to preserve the enterprises left over from the Soviet era and bring them to a new level of development thanks to the efforts of the authorities, “Together we can benefit from the results of this development. Moreover, by joining forces, we are creating a kind of synergy. On the one hand, there are your capabilities in manufacturing industries, and on the other hand, there are the needs of our market and additional efforts on the part of Russian enterprises, engineers, even the scientific school. These efforts have been very effective in some industries. We hope that this will yield good results for both Belarus and Russia.”
The leaders of Belarus and Russia are also set to discuss the ways of bolstering the Union State, the status of the Union State programmes.
“They have been worked out by our governments. They create conditions, a basis for moving forward in our co-operation, primarily, of course, in economy,” Vladimir Putin added.

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by