Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 29 April (BelTA) – The Eurasian Economic Union Treaty should be more about economy rather than politics, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said as he met with Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Viktor Khristenko on 29 April, BelTA has learnt.

Prior to this meeting the head of state discussed the draft Eurasian Economic Union Treaty with Belarusian representative in the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission Sergei Rumas. The President asked Viktor Khristenko about the progress in the preparation of the document. “I would like to hear from you as the point man for the document preparation what progress has been made in this regard,” Alexander Lukashenko said. “I would like to know what headway we have made, what the document is more about – politics or economy. I would like the latter. It is, first of all, the economic union. And if you have any complaints to the Belarusian side, I would like you to tell me about it frankly. We still have time to rectify it. I do not think we are lagging behind,” the head of state added.

According to Viktor Khristenko, the work on the treaty proceeds in a continuous super-intensive manner. Hundreds of experts from the three governments, and the commission are involved in this work. “I should say the document is taking shape as we all wanted. It covers all the activities of the Eurasian Economic Union,” he noted.

Viktor Khristenko stressed that many economic issues are really very important. Today’s Supreme Eurasian Economic Council will discuss the issues that cannot be considered without the heads of state. “The supreme state level means not only the complexity of the negotiation process but also the significance and big prospects regarding many issues. For instance, these are the issues such as the development of the common market of oil, oil products and gas. These are conceptually new issues which were absent before or were considered as exemptions,” the Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission said.