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Opening the meeting, President Putin described the establishment of the Union State of Russia and Belarus as timely and correct. He pointed out that the basic goal today was to integrate the two countries more deeply in order to create a common economic space and harmonise their legal frameworks.

The President admitted that not everything followed the previously agreed upon schedules. But he underlined that the decisions reached were weighed, considered and made by taking into account the interests of both countries. He believes that it is a positive trend that meetings had lately been especially businesslike and the agenda included current and practical issues.

One of the main themes discussed at the meeting was the creation of equal conditions for economic entities. In particular, the two Presidents agreed to apply the internal Russian tariffs on energy resources and rail transport to Belarus. Mr Putin also said that work was under way to set up a joint stock company for pooling the ownership of the gas pipeline system running through Belarus.

Before the session Mr Putin and Mr Lukashenko held a bilateral meeting.