Official website of the President of Russia

News   /

President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko first held a one-on-one meeting and were then joined by the two countries’ respective government delegations.

Mr Putin and Mr Lukashenko approved the Union State’s budget for 2007 and discussed issues relating to its execution.

The 2007 budget is the first budget to be approved before the start of the new financial year. Budget revenue has been formed through a more than 20-percent increase to the contributions made by Russia and Belarus and totals 3.78 billion roubles.

This revenue will be used in 2007 to finance 35 union programmes in areas such as computer technology, space communications, microelectronics, agricultural machine building, diesel-powered automobile manufacturing and the chemicals industry.

Carrying out these projects will help develop trade and economic cooperation, including manufacturing competitive high-technology goods.

The State Council session discussed the 2006–2007 coordinated foreign policy programme. It also reviewed the results of the programme to develop and equip the Union State’s external border, work on which began in 2002. Over this time, Russia and Belarus have built a number of border infrastructure facilities and purchased technical equipment for border surveillance.