Vladimir Putin's address:
Esteemed Mr Sidorsky,
Esteemed members of the Council of Ministers,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I want to start with thanking our friends for their hospitality and an excellently organised job. We have had a hearty reception in Belarus and its heroic city of Brest. A trip about Brest has impressed us with the development of the new neighbourhoods. They look real nice, as does the Old Town, for that matter.
Brest will stay forever among the symbols of the indomitable courage of people of many nationalities, who defended our shared Fatherland during the Great Patriotic War.
We will celebrate a sacred date, the 65th Victory anniversary, this year. We will do it together, and it is our duty to celebrate it with dignity. It is our duty to the memory of soldiers who fought the first battle of the Great Patriotic War on June 22, 1941, here in Brest; to soldiers who overcame all trials and tribulations to vanquish Nazism and rescue Europe and the world from slavery.
Today we will discuss the pivotal aspects of Russian-Belarusian economic integration. Our countries have made headway on this road already. It is an open secret, however, that certain agreements on economic rapprochement and bringing the two countries' laws into mutual conformity still remain on paper.
We have discussed the matter in sufficient detail at a restricted-attendance meeting, and agreed for the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and the Belarusian Ministry of Economy to make a thorough joint analysis of the entire legal basis and recommend top priorities.
We will also discuss the implementation of the joint action plan to minimise the results of the global financial crisis. This plan has brought tangible fruit already. Particularly, as I have said to the restricted-attendance meeting, Russian-Belarusian trade grew 17% in January, compared to January 2009. This is a good achievement, I think, with the increase of Belarusian exports to Russia. These exports are growing rapidly. The increase is roughly 40% for today, showing that market players offer timely response to changes that are due to the emergence of the Customs Union. They are adapting to the situation, and benefiting with adaptation.
This meeting of the Council of Ministers will approve budgeted balance sheets of demand and supply for essential Union State products and the projected fuel and energy balance for this year with an account for our bilateral agreements.
Apart from developing the Union State, we are also actively forming the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, which I have just mentioned, and are preparing the grounds for the next integration stage, the establishment of the united economic space.
Our agenda includes many other matters essential for the development of the Union State: the implementation of its programme to unify Russian and Belarusian labour laws and social guarantees, the formation of the united information space, and the work of the Union State television and radio broadcasting company, to name but three items.
By way of conclusion, I want to express my confidence that this meeting will be as businesslike and substantive as all meetings of the Council of Ministers have been.
I am glad to give the floor to Mr Sidorsky.
Sergei Sidorsky's address:
Thank you.
Esteemed Mr Putin,
Esteemed members of the Council of Ministers,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Not so long ago, I requested the Russian Prime Minister to appoint Brest as the venue of the nearest meeting of the Council of Ministers. I am grateful to Mr Putin for his consent because the Soviet people started the road to Great Victory here in Brest.
We scions of the heroes share the duty of celebrating the 65th Victory anniversary this year. The Brest Fortress held for several months within which the frontline moved far east of it but the citadel fought on to epitomise our valour. Even the enemy respected its garrison and buried its officers with military honours.
Thank you and the government members for finding the time for the visit in your pressed schedule. We will show you the fortress that became the symbol of our Great Victory.
I want to compliment our experts on an excellent job. They have done everything in their power for a constructive meeting today, and set the tune to the Union Government for this year's work. We hope this meeting will lead to decisions enabling us to strike the targets posed by the Supreme Council of the two presidents, Russian and Belarusian, as they met in Moscow on December 10, 2009.
The economy dominates our agenda as usual. As Mr Putin has said today, last year brought problems galore to the Russian and Belarusian economies but we withstood the harsh test of the financial downturn though our trade shrank by over 30% and Belarusian exports to Russia fell by 36%. So we have every reason to discuss opportunities for increasing mutual trade and bringing our economies as close together as possible in the Union State.
We owe available improvements to the joint anti-crisis action plan adopted in January 2009. Expert assessments coincide with ours in this: the anti-crisis plan of the Russian-Belarusian Union government was one of the most dynamic and ambitious plans available. It gave the two countries an opportunity of considerable economic progress and mutual assistance in the hard year 2009.
Today we will analyse its implementation and discuss the relevance of anti-crisis measures that we deem retaining pertinence this year. We have just discussed the matter at a restricted-attendance meeting.
Union Government responsibilities include the transfer of customs, transport and other control to the western Belarusian border.
On Belarusian initiative, we should transfer such control to Belarus' outer boundary on July 1. We have once again demonstrated its potential to Mr Putin and other government members today. This is the Union State border. The introduction of the united customs space will make it an only border from the Atlantic to the Kamchatka Peninsula. Just think about this great achievement of the integration of our two countries and Kazakhstan.
I regard today's Union Government meeting as a practical stride to the formation of the united customs space.
We have made an overall analysis of the agreement today. On the arrangement we have made, our ministers and the Standing Committee will soon discuss acting agreements and advance practical proposals to their greater effect. We will see to it at the next Union Government meeting.
Mr Putin, thank you for your consent to a routine meeting. I call on experts to be as active as possible with the task the head of the Union Government has entrusted them with, and analyse all matters we are to settle.
We will discuss fuel and energy problems, particularly available balance sheets. Experts have streamlined them, and I expect them to find the approval of today's meeting.
On the whole, I want to say that our Union State is for today the most sustainable, advanced and successful instance of integration in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Mr Putin and I have exchanged opinions on this.
It is of critical importance that much has been done not only for the economy in general but for people. Those who closely follow our work and overall integration trends in the post-Soviet area acknowledge that our efforts promote the population's interests. I think this outspoken discussion of Union problems is our greatest achievement.
We have 23 items on our agenda. Mr Putin, I think we should start their discussion. Thank you.