Presidents of Belarus and Russia Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin have been invited to the VII Forum of Regions of the two countries in Minsk on 28-29 September, the format of their participation in the event is being developed. This was announced to journalists on Friday by Anatoly Isachenko, Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Republic (upper house) of the National Assembly of Belarus.
“Presidents are invited, the format [of their participation in the forum] is being worked out”, – said the Deputy Speaker of the Upper Chamber of the Belarusian Parliament.
According to Isachenko, on the first day of the forum events about 1.5 thousand people are planned to participate. The plenary session of the forum on September 29 will be attended by about 300 people, of which the Russian part – about 120 people.
“We are waiting for about 20 leaders of the regions of the Russian Federation”, – said the Vice Speaker, answering the question of TASS.
Isachenko informed that about 70 agreements are planned to be signed within the forum. “The amount of commercial contracts is estimated at approximately $700 million”, – said the Deputy Speaker. According to him, the largest contract is estimated at $30 million.
Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko will arrive in Minsk on September 29 to take part in the Forum of Regions. Together with the Head of the Upper House of the Belarusian Parliament Natalia Kochanova she will meet with regional leaders of the two countries.
The first Forum of Regions of Belarus and the Russian Federation was held in Minsk in 2014. Since then, Sochi, Minsk, Moscow, Mogilev and St Petersburg have hosted the event. The theme of the event, which took place in July 2019 in St. Petersburg, was interregional ties as the basis for the formation of a common cultural and humanitarian space. As a result of the six forums, 302 cooperation agreements were signed and the amount of commercial contracts reached $2 billion. At the previous forum, which was attended by the presidents of the two countries, more than 60 contracts were signed for almost $500 million.