A meeting of the High-Level Group of the Union State Council of Ministers took place.
Alexei Overchuk and Head of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus Dmitry Krutoi co-chaired a meeting of the High-Level Group of the Union State Council of Ministers
Alexei Overchuk and Head of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus Dmitry Krutoi co-chaired a meeting of the High-Level Group of the Union State Council of Ministers
Alexei Overchuk and Head of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus Dmitry Krutoi co-chaired a meeting of the High-Level Group of the Union State Council of Ministers
Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexei Overchuk and Head of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus Dmitry Krutoi co-chaired the meeting of the High-Level Group of the Union State Council of Ministers of Russia and Belarus. The event took place in Minsk with the participation of State Secretary of the Union State Dmitry Mezentsev, Russian Ambassador to Belarus Boris Gryzlov, Belarusian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Russia with powers of Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Alexander Rogozhnik, and officials from the respective ministries and agencies from Russia and Belarus.
The High-Level Group co-chairs reviewed the status of implementation of joint projects aimed at strengthening Russia-Belarus trade and economic cooperation with a focus on expanding railway transport and infrastructure, passenger transport, cargo delivery, the manufacturing industry, and digital market access between the two countries, as well as other issues that must be addressed jointly.
“This year marks a major milestone for our fraternal countries: in December, the Union State will turn 25,” the Deputy Prime Minister noted. “Over these years, we managed to build effective cooperation across all areas of partnership. The outcomes of these massive efforts can be seen in the growing numbers of mutual trade and our respective economies, which means we managed to create new jobs and our people saw their incomes grow.”
The parties reviewed ways to enhance transport connectivity between the two countries. According to Alexei Overchuk, Russia and Belarus have good prospects and significant reserves for expanding railway service between major border centres which, however, will require amending the Union’s regulatory framework to ensure seamless cargo hauling and convenience for passengers from both countries.
The joint work on import substitution continues. The import substitution projects have been selected, with plans to fund them through Russian state loans in the amount of 105 billion roubles.
The two countries are expanding interregional cooperation. In June 2024, the 11th Forum of Regions of Russia and Belarus took place. Over 250 agreements, including 30 interregional and 25 municipal agreements totalling about 30 billion roubles, were signed on the margins of the forum.
From late March 2022 and August 31, 2024, a total of 6,758 foreign trade contracts were signed by companies from 75 regions of the Russian Federation with their Belarusian partners in the amount of approximately 180 billion roubles. Thousands of enterprises from both countries engage in cooperative interaction and mutual supplies of raw materials, materials, and components.
The High-Level Group meeting participants noted Russia and Belarus’ joint efforts to promote tourism. The number of Belarusian tourists almost doubled from 126,000 in 2022 to 247,000 in 2023. In the first half of 2024, the tourist flow from Belarus to Russia stood at 111,000 trips, more than 50 percent higher than in the same period last year (73,000 trips in 2023).
New air routes have been established to support tourist flows: on April 3, 2024, a regular Brest-Moscow flight was launched, and on April 26 a Minsk-Makhachkala flight became available.
To promote tourism within the Union State, a project is being drafted to create a Union State Tourism Information Centre in Smolensk.
Deepening integration within the Union State is an important part of Russian-Belarusian cooperation. “We are working as a team to implement new Guidelines for Implementing the Union State Treaty Provisions for 2024–2026. We have finalised the main document and, in June, approved 31 action plans to ensure the phased-in implementation of the plan,” Alexei Overchuk noted.
The ministries of the economies from both countries are evaluating the effects of implementing previous integration documents and the ongoing work.
The participants also reviewed the status of implementation of the protocol decisions that were made within the Union State. Preparations for meetings of the Union State Council of Ministers and the Union State Supreme State Council continue unabated.
Following the meeting, the Permanent Committee of the Union State was tasked with ensuring
coordinated efforts to implement the agreements reached during the meeting.
