The meeting took place on the sidelines of the International Environmental Conference.
Mikhail Mishustin with Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Turchin
Mikhail Mishustin with Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Turchin
Excerpts from the transcript:
Mikhail Mishustin: Mr Turchin, friends.
I am delighted to meet with you once again here, in the Republic of Altai at the International Environmental Conference. This event covers the most urgent and relevant matters dealing with environment protection across the Eurasian region. We will discuss natural phenomena and ecology in general. In fact, there are so many questions we need to ask, and so many answers to find.
Of course, at the outset, let me ask you to convey the best wishes and greetings to President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on behalf of President Vladimir Putin and on my personal behalf as well.
Mr Turchin, you and I have been staying in touch with one another over the phone and talked to each other several times over past couple of weeks.
I believe that at the level of our respective governments we have succeeded in putting in place a framework for carrying out the decisions as adopted by our leaders and primarily based on the principles governing the Union State Treaty’s implementation in 2024−2026.
Despite the unprecedented sanctions and the resulting pressure exerted by the collective West, Russia and Belarus have reinforced their economic cooperation. Vehicles, equipment and high-technology products now account for a larger share of our trade.
We carry out over 90 percent of our transactions in national currencies. Taken together, all these developments help us shield our mutual trade and investment from any negative outside influences we face in this day and age.
Importantly, we have been prioritising industrial cooperation between our countries and developing manufacturing within the Union State, and I would like to thank you for that. Russian and Belarusian goods enjoy uniform treatment and equal status. This way, both countries accept and recognise parts, components and end products made within the Union State. This is a very important achievement.
We are also committed to generating positive momentum in promoting joint projects in import substitution and creating competitive high added value products within our countries. I am referring to several sectors, including automotive manufacturing, microelectronics and machine building. There has been a proactive commitment to developing the digital economy. I would like to thank you for your leadership in this domain too. During your visits to the Russian Federation, you spend hours exploring our technology projects. You have visited several companies. This is to say that we are ready to go to great lengths to develop online services for businesses operated by Russian and Belarusian nationals.
Minsk will be hosting its first Innoprom expo in late September. Russia is expected to have a major presence at this event. Make no mistake, this expo will serve as an additional impetus for promoting industrial cooperation and will help kick-start new projects.
We have been working together within the Eurasian Economic Union, and Belarus chairs this structure in 2025. Russia and Belarus have also reinforced their cooperation within the CIS, the SCO and many other formats.Mr Turchin, we have a lengthy agenda, and the floor is yours.
Alexander Turchin: Mr Mishustin, colleagues, I would like to thank you for an invitation to take part in this large-scale international forum. Wonderful nature, wonderful locations!
Major investments are great. One gets the impression that the Russian economy remains stable despite all the difficulties. Indeed, this is an extremely significant factor.
As you have aptly noted, we maintain multiple contacts at various levels. The heads of state have met recently, you and I communicate all the time, and our colleagues, the deputy prime ministers, are also in touch. I would therefore like to note that I am completely satisfied with the intensity and efficiency of our work.
Mr Mishustin, you have listed the issues on which we are moving ahead. You were right in saying that digital agenda is the one we should move forward on faster. Consequently, I am grateful to you for bringing leading Russian experts to Belarus. We have certain plans and preliminary outlines. We will discuss them today with Mr Gref. In my opinion, this has wonderful prospects and future. I know that you are a staunch advocate of this project, and our interests coincide completely.
Industrial cooperation and agriculture are the areas, which we are developing and where we are moving forward.
I believe that, during our current meeting, we will probably finalise some of our agreements to a certain extent.
Mikhail Mishustin: Thank you for these kind words, Mr Turchin.
I would like to tell you that I am not a staunch advocate of digitalisation because, when we automate and digitalise something, we should think about a generation that does not always choose automated systems, and we must provide them with an opportunity to work with paper documents and to fill out such documents. But, of course, we need to automate all essential spheres.
