Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Alexander Lukashenko: Mr Putin, it is my pleasure to welcome you here in Belarus. I've been giving our relations some thought, and I believe that the cooperation between our two countries in the framework of the Union of Russia and Belarus has been positive on the whole. The trade turnover growth has been high. Everything has been going along as it should, in a quiet, boring, moderate way. Nevertheless, we can say that there is a certain lack of understanding from our people, both Russians and Belarusians. They expect us to take action. I've been trying to define it for myself, and I realised that they expect something more definite.
I met with President Dmitry Medvedev, we had a long one-to-one meeting and discussed these matters, and he proposed a good solution. I presume you are already aware of it. We need to pick a couple of large-scale programmes in the framework of the Union of Russia and Belarus, programmes that would be achievable, tangible, and clear, especially to ordinary people. We should announce that we can do it today or tomorrow, and actually do it. This will be a challenging programme. But it should give a much-needed impetus to our relations, namely when it comes to the Union. Perhaps you feel it too. And we will have to try to reach that goal. It may be necessary to develop a new programme.
Perhaps we should study what we have created in legislation and other areas to bring the relations between our states to a more tangible and significant level. When considering the matter with Mr Medvedev - we met in Sochi last time - we hoped that the Government would work on several economic and social issues in the framework of the Council of Ministers, and then we would meet in Moscow, maybe even before the Supreme Council of State session. Mr Medvedev suggested that we should meet before the Supreme Council session to discuss a few matters, and try to seriously address the problems in our relations during the Supreme Council session. This is as far as a new strategy is concerned. I am glad that you have come here. I suppose a lot of questions will be discussed at today's Council of Ministers session.
Second, I would like to take this opportunity to clarify a few matters and to avoid any misunderstanding, which exists in the press, mainly in your and our opposition media. Some people have hinted that we are maneuvering between Russia and the West.
I have recently told the "westernisers" about it, during the parliamentary elections, and I want to tell you too that we never maneuver. We never try to profit from our friendship with Russia. Our two peoples have always been close, we have always had friendly relations, and they will remain so. They will guarantee security and a strong development of our states. These are the things you can be absolutely sure of.
Vladimir Putin: Mr Lukashenko, it is a great pleasure to see you and my counterpart. I would like to say straight away that Mr Medvedev sends you his best. Yesterday we had a meeting to discuss our agenda for today. We mapped out a few problems we could look at closely today during our meeting.
As to the expectations of our people, I am convinced that they expect consistent and competent economic work from us, which would have a positive impact on society and improve people's standard of living. I am certain that we are capable of carrying out such work.
Russia, as always, is ready to consider opportunities to step up cooperation and support the Belarusian financial system if needed and if you believe it is expedient.
But of course - and I share your view on this issue - I believe it is sound to concentrate financial and administrative resources in the most promising areas, making such projects really large-scale. We should focus on projects that could demonstrate our developing capabilities and the bright outlook for our relations.
We would like these projects to be connected with high technologies - it is one of the points we will discuss today. So, with your support, with the support of the Belarusian Parliament and the Russian State Duma, I am sure we will be able to address these problems at the executive and legislative level.
I would also like to congratulate you on the Parliamentary elections in the Republic of Belarus. We believe they were a success, both politically and organizationally, and the outcome points to the fact that the policy you pursue enjoys the support of all people. My congratulations. I wish all Belarusian MPs effective work.