BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
06/10/2008
Putin to have talks with Belarus leadership in Minsk
MOSCOW, October 6 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will arrive on a working visit in Minsk on Monday.
During his visit to Belarus Putin will have talks with President Alexander Lukashenko, have a meeting with Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky and will participate in a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Russia-Belarus Union State, a source in the Russian government told Itar-Tass. Putin will visit Belarus for the second time in the capacity of the Russian premier (since May 2008).
The Russian delegation, which will accompany Putin, will include Deputy Prime Ministers Igor Shuvalov, Alexei Kudrin, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov and Federal Customs Service chief Andrei Belyaninov, as well as top managers of almost all large companies, which cooperate with Belarus.
The governmental source recalled that Putin would meet with the Belarussian leadership almost right after the parliamentary elections in the country. Meanwhile, the sides will discuss acute international, political, financial and economic issues. They will also discuss the current development of bilateral socio-economic relations. The bilateral trade grew 60% and exceeded 21.6 billion dollars for the last seven months, the source said. "Large-scale joint programs and long-term investment projects in industry, agriculture, services and transport are being implemented successfully," the source said.
More than 20 issues, which "cover the whole range of integration issues", are put up for discussion at a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Union State. The Council of Ministers will sum up the results of trade and economic cooperation between the countries in the first half of 2008, the execution of the Union State budget and the drafting of the major budget parameters for 2009.
Meanwhile, members of the Council of Ministers will decide on forming a common scientific and technological space, implementing scientific-technological and innovative programs on accounting, appraisal and management of the State Union assets. "It is planned to discuss absolutely new cooperative programs, including prospects of cooperation in nano-technologies and the joint development of a technical space," the source said.
The Council of Ministers will also consider the fulfillment of a plan of measures aimed at creating a common information space of the Union State for 2007-2010 and several other issues.
"On the whole, we hope that Putin's forthcoming visit will contribute to stronger Russian-Belarussian allied relations and will give a fresh impetus to the formation of the Union State, which will be based on solid political, economic and legal foundations," the source emphasized.
Source:
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=13139440&PageNum=0
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