In the near future, it is necessary to dot all the I's so that the next years will be clear in cooperation for Belarus and Russia. This was stated by Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting with First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov on October 28.
"A lot depends on your visit. I know that. And President Vladimir Putin and I have talked about this and are waiting for the results of your visit to Belarus in the Russian government. So that if there are any questions to the presidents, we can solve them in the near future," Lukashenko said.
In this regard, he said that on December 5 it is planned to hold a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State.
"Therefore, it is necessary to dot all the I's. Preferably on HCV. So that the future and subsequent years will be clear in cooperation for Belarus and Russia," the Belarusian leader stressed.
In addition, Lukashenko noted that thanks to the development of Russian industry, the West failed to bring Russia and Belarus to their knees.
"Denis Valentinovich, we have been talking a lot lately with the Russians, with the Russian leadership, that the West has not managed to bring us to our knees, press us down, bend us. And this is a great merit of those sectors of the economy that you head, first of all, industry," said the President of Belarus.
He also thanked the government and Vladimir Putin for the fact that Russia has financed many joint import-substituting projects.
"There are such landmark, global projects as financing the production of the Osvey aircraft. For us, this is generally, one might say, a new story. Maybe the era of aircraft construction in Belarus will begin with this aircraft," he said.
At the same time, Lukashenko proposed to overcome misunderstandings with Russia in the production of passenger cars.
"We once opened a new era in the production of cars in Belarus. Also a very important question. You are in You understand more about Russia than anyone else in this matter. I would like to be able to overcome those misunderstandings (or some kind of omissions, one might even say) in connection with import substitution for passenger cars, and we would produce Belarusian and Russian cars first of all on our joint rank... It's no secret to anyone, we must protect our market. In order not to get out of the fire and into the flames, as I often say. Our colleagues understand this very well. The ways of cooperation with such states have been identified, they exist. So that it doesn't work out the way it did with the Westerners — they left, they left everything — "We won't work." However, they left — thank you, let them go. Competencies, people stayed. We have enough raw materials and resources. We will produce and replace their goods with our own," the Belarusian leader added.
He also noted that he does not exclude the possibility of increasing Russia's financing of joint projects.
"There are enough projects. Even more than we agreed on, the amount of money that Russia has allocated as loans. Perhaps we will agree that Russia will be interested in our new projects and this funding will be increased. But it will be as a result of your negotiations," Lukashenko said.
Recall, Belarus and Russia has been building a Union State since 1999. In recent years, the integration of the two countries has accelerated dramatically. Currently, the parties are actively working in the field of import substitution and are completing the implementation of 28 union programs adopted earlier.