Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, met in Moscow on Tuesday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th December, 2018) Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, met in Moscow on Tuesday.The two countries established diplomatic ties on June 25, 1992. On December 8, 1999, they signed a treaty establishing the Union State of Russia and Belarus. The treaty was preceded by the Commonwealth of Belarus and Russia, established in April 1996, and the Union of Belarus and Russia in April 1997.
Russian-Belarusian relations are based on more than 220 interstate and intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The two countries are also linked by multilateral agreements on cooperation within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
Belarus is Russia's strategic ally, a partnership that has been cemented in the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation, where, as one of the regional priorities, expansion of strategic cooperation with Belarus within the Union State and integration within the EAEU are listed.
Rapid development of bilateral contacts between the leaders and at high levels demonstrates that its relationship with Belarus is a priority issue for Russia.
In 2018, Putin and Lukashenko met a total of 11 times.
On December 6, 2018, the two leaders took part in the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council and the informal CIS summit.
Also this year, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev held five meetings with Andrei Kobyakov, who served as the prime minister of Belarus until August 2018, and then four times with Sergey Rumas, Kobyakov's successor. The last meeting between Medvedev and Rumas was held behind closed doors on December 13 in the Belarusian city of Brest. That same day, the politicians convened a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Union State.
The foreign ministries of the two states, as well as other ministries and agencies maintain active contacts.
On November 20-21, 2018, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid a working visit to Belarus to attend a joint meeting of the boards of the Russian and Belarusian foreign ministries. During the visit, Lavrov also met with Lukashenko.
Russia and Belarus have common or similar positions on major international issues and closely cooperate within the United Nations and other global and regional organizations.
Russia is a major trade and economic partner for Belarus, with a nearly 50-percent share in the country's trade. In turn, Belarus ranks first in terms of Russia's trade with CIS countries and fourth among all Russian trade partners.
According to Russia's Federal Customs Service, Russian-Belarusian trade increased by 26 percent in 2017 in comparison with 2016. It amounted to $30.1 billion, which includes $18.4 worth of Russian exports, an increase of 29.2 percent, and $11.7 billion worth of imports, a growth of 21.2 percent.
In January-October 2018, trade between the two countries amounted to 28.2 billion rubles ($412 million), with Russian exports totaling 18.2 billion rubles and imports reaching 9.9 billion rubles.
Russian exports to Belarus are mainly comprised of mineral products, machinery, equipment and transport vehicles, metals, chemical products and others. Imports are predominately food and agricultural products, machinery, equipment and transport vehicles, textiles and footwear, among others.
Russia turned out to be the main investor in the Belarusian economy in 2017, accounting for 38 percent (about $3.7 billion) of all foreign investments in the country's economy. Belarus, in turn, accounted for 66.9 percent (approximately $3.68 billion) of Russia's total foreign investments.
The largest bilateral investment project is the construction of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), which will have a planned capacity of 2,400-megawatt. The main contract for the NPP was signed on July 18, 2012. The first power unit is expected to begin operating in 2019.
Cooperation in the fuel and energy sector is an important part of bilateral relations, with Russia being the main supplier of oil and gas to its neighbor. In recent years, Russian exports have amounted to about 21 million tonnes of oil and 20 billion cubic meters (706 billion cubic feet) of gas. In 2016, Russia announced plans to supply 24 million tonnes of oil to Belarus annually between 2016 and 2024, but the volume of exports has decreased since the second half of 2016. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, commenting on the decline in volume, said that this was due to underpayment on the part of Belarus.
The oil and gas dispute between Russia and Belarus ended in April 2017 after the parties signed documents that settled their differences. This happened immediately after Russian energy giant Gazprom stated that Belarus had fully paid off its $726.2 million debt for the gas that was supplied in 2016-2017. The parties agreed to reduce the gas price for Belarus in 2018-2019 and restore exports of 24 million tonnes of Russian oil per year.
On December 10, 2009, Russia and Belarus signed an agreement to develop defense industry cooperation, which continues to be strong. The arms and equipment in the national armed forces of Russia and Belarus are very much the same. In addition, part of the military equipment that is produced in Russia is stocked with elements produced in Belarus.
Moscow and Minsk signed an agreement on joint protection of the airspace at the Union State external border and creation of the Russia-Belarus unified regional air defense. The cooperation between the two countries within the framework of the CSTO and the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Force is actively developing. Joint military and counterterrorism exercises are held on a regular basis.
The Russia-Belarus relationship is largely boosted by burgeoning cooperation at the regional level � over 80 regions in Russia maintain trade and economic cooperation with Belarus. There are about 80 large joint assembly plants; 200 entities that are part of a distribution network with Belarusian capital and more than 3,300 with Russian capital; more than 8,000 enterprises that are involved in bilateral cooperation; and over 1,000 joint ventures in progress. There are also about 2,500 joint ventures or enterprises using Russian capital in Belarus.
On October 10-12, 2018, the 5th Forum of Russia and Belarus Regions was held in the Belarusian city of Mogilev. The forum was dedicated to the development of regional cooperation as a key factor in integration and the Union State development.
The cultural ties between Russia and Belarus are abundant and include regular cross-cultural years and festivals.
Russia and Belarus have created a single migration space and conditions for mutual visa-free travel without customs or border control. The citizens of Russia and Belarus have equal education, employment and property rights and may stay on the other country's territory for 30 days without migration registration.
