Medvedev and Lukashenko discussed economic cooperation between Russia and Belarus, including ties within the Union State and the Customs Union, and the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union.
Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko
Dmitry Medvedev: Mr Lukashenko, I’m pleased to meet you, and all the more so because you are visiting us on the eve of our most important and sacred holiday – Victory Day. This holiday is highly revered in our countries and is celebrated by everyone, both war veterans and the younger generation. I think that this is a very good tradition and cannot be revised under any political circumstances. I’d like to ask you to convey my greetings on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation to all Belarusian veterans, especially since some of them traditionally come to Moscow.
Today we have the opportunity to discuss how things are. You’ll have a meeting with the President, while we will talk about the economy; this is all the more important because economic issues demand unflagging attention. We are moving forward and cooperating within the Union State and the Customs Union. I consider bilateral ties very important, especially in the context of the fairly difficult economic situation in Europe and the rest of the world. Our two countries also have their own problems that we must discuss, so I’m at your disposal.
Alexander Lukashenko: Mr Medvedev, thank you. You’re absolutely right. As you know, we’ve done everything to be able to look confidently into the faces of the older generations that brought us victory and gave us this country and life, no matter how tough things were. We’ve always been adamant in this respect in Belarus and we never had any hesitations. We’ve always celebrated this holiday as a holy day.
When you visit Minsk, you’ll see a new museum of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, the only one in Europe. We built this new museum for the younger generations to remember our past. Thank you very much for your greetings to Belarusians. We’ll convey them by all means.
We’ve come here to congratulate all the Russian people with this big holiday. This is our common holiday and we’ll never give it away to anyone and not because this is the way we are, but rather because this is our great service to the human race – we saved it from the brown plague in the past. Why should we be ashamed of this?
Dmitry Medvedev: Absolutely not.
Alexander Lukashenko: The human race should be grateful to us. As for the economic issues, Mr Medvedev, I’d say even more. We are on the eve of an important event – the signing of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union.
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