Events

MINSK, 19 February (BelTA) – It is important to prepare the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty on time. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made the statement as he met with members of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission and the Chairman of the EEC Board on 19 February, BelTA has learned.

In line with the agreement reached by the presidents of the Customs Union member states the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty is supposed to be ready by 1 May 2014. The Union itself should become operational as from 1 January 2015. “Concrete deadlines have been set and I wouldn’t like breaking them,” noted the Belarusian head of state.

“It is very important because once due to the work to establish the Union State of Belarus and Russia, even more so, the Commonwealth of Independent States our peoples had inflated expectations or maybe normal ones but we failed to meet these expectations. Therefore, people are now concerned about the possibility of our failing of the project. If we shift the timeframe, if we fail to meet the deadlines, the people will not be happy about it,” said the Belarus President.

Alexander Lukashenko underlined that he would like participants of the meeting to tell him about the progress in forming the Eurasian Economic Union. He remarked that the presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan were also interested in getting broader information in this regard. “You are going to visit all the presidents and tell them about your work. We are starting this process with Belarus,” said Alexander Lukashenko. The Belarusian head of state was interested in whether there were any complaints about the Belarusian side. He guaranteed that all the issues will definitely be fixed.

The President drew attention to the fact that matters concerning the formation of economic unity had to be discussed first. “Naturally, economy will lead to other matters. Moreover, in military and political matters our Customs Union and the Single Economic Space rely on the Collective Security Treaty Organization. It is necessary to combine all of that sometime,” said the Belarusian leader.