First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Nikolai Snopkov said that Minsk and Moscow have found a consensus on all 28 union programs.
“At the moment, a consensus has been found on all 28 union programs. And in principle, I must say that we have reached the home stretch”, Snopkov said in an interview with the Belarus-1 TV channel.
He expressed the hope that the presidents of Belarus and Russia, Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin, will decide whether the programs are ready for signing in the form in which they are presented by the governments at the moment. Snopkov stressed that union programs are formed on the basis of three basic elements – goal, direction and result.
“The goal for all, in principle, is the same: the creation of equal starting conditions for business entities of the two countries. The mechanisms are the unification of the legislation of the two countries, not on the basis of the Russian one, as it is customary for us to discuss it, but on the basis of the best practices, including those that are not yet applied either in the Russian Federation or in Belarus”, he noted.
The Deputy Prime Minister also added that work within the framework of the Union State does not threaten the sovereignty of the two countries, since it is quite logical that “the two states unite in efforts to economically resist unhealthy third forces.”
“We are talking exclusively about building the economic power of the two countries, therefore, intellectual potential, material resources, natural capabilities are important elements that need to be combined in order to resist and grow,” concluded Snopkov.