The Union State marks its tenth anniversary
On December 8, 1999, almost exactly 10 years ago, Russia and Belarus signed an agreement to enter into the Union State. At the meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Union State yesterday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for an appropriate celebration of this date.
This suggestion was one of the few results from a Russian-Belarsian bilateral meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Union State. No decisions were taken on the latest tranche of the Russian loan for Belarus or on gas prices for 2010.
Coming out of recession together
In the 10 years that the "paper" Union State has existed, its member states have not managed to form common political, economic, military, customs, currency or legal space, which were the main goals in the first place. In addition, relations between Moscow and Minsk are occasionally complicated by economic and political contradictions, like the recent milk war.
Although yesterday's meeting of the Council of Ministers and bilateral talks lasted a few hours and finished in the evening, Russian officials took a break and then hardly gave reporters any information. At the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Putin only stated that Russia and Belarus must look at "the effectiveness of our cooperation to allay the effects of the crisis" adding that "this approach has already had a positive impact on the Russian and Belarusian economies."
Mr Putin believes that the launch of the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus on January 1, 2010 will open new vistas for its participants.
The parties failed to find solutions to two important issues on the bilateral agenda, a loan and gas prices for Belarus. "These issues were discussed at the bilateral talks, but no decisions were made. Our talks continue, and are very constructive," Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for the Russian prime minister, told Gazeta.
In late 2008, Russia agreed to give Belarus a $1.5 billion loan. The first part of this loan, $1 billion, was allotted, but in late May 2009, Russian Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin said Russia might refuse to transfer the next tranche to Belarus since Minsk ostensibly took inadequate measures to ensure the stability and solvency of its economy. For its turn, Gazprom is going to raise gas prices in 2010.
Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky was sparing in his comments. He said that despite their efforts, Russia and Belarus had failed to maintain the dynamics in trade that had developed over the past five years. However, he thinks that outside factors are to blame for this.
Regions work while centres quarrel
Only Belarusian Minister of Economics Nikolai Zaichenko honestly admitted that Russia and Belarus had failed to find a compromise on the issue of equal government support for the industries of the two countries. The companies in the other country are not subject to the subsidies of loan interest rates or leasing programmes.
Zaichenko said that the Customs Union, to be launched on January 1, 2010, will have no big effect either, being just the "first milestone" in the parties' efforts to expand their relations in the economy.
Zaichenko is more satisfied with Belarus' relations with Russia's regions, than with the federal government. "We have very good relations with Novosibirsk, Krasnodar, St Petersburg and many other regions," the Belarusian minister said in the lobby.
Nevertheless, there was a reason for cautious optimism apart from the celebrations. Following the talks, Putin stated that the contributions to the budget of the Union State will not be reduced. He reiterated that the budget for the Union State for 2009 totaled 4.87 billion roubles, with Russia and Belarus accounting for 65% and 35%, respectively.
The Council of Ministers also approved the key parameters of the draft budget for the Union State for 2010.
Andrei Biryukov