BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

15/12/2006

Russia-Belarus union state council meeting in Kremlin

MOSCOW, December 15 (Itar-Tass) - The Supreme Council of the Russia-Belarus union state has opened a meeting in the Kremlin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a keynote address that he hoped for productive work.

"I am glad that we have gathered here in the Kremlin for discussing the questions that have been prepared by our experts, and not badly".

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko explained why the broader attendance talks after the presidents' face-to-face meeting began with a delay.

He and Putin were meeting for over three hours, he said.

"We initially thought of taking out of context the questions of the constitutional act and of a common currency, on which a hard but fruitful work is going on. As a result of our conversation, we sort of found a thread on which to catch," Lukashenko said.

"I think that we shall be able to lift in a nearest time the issues that were not sensitive, but hard for us," he said.

Source:

http://www.tass.ru/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11087364&PageNum=0