Participants in the plenary meeting of the 10th Forum of Russian and Belarusian Regions, chaired by Valentina Matvienko and Natalya Kochanova, discussed the results of a decade of work and prospects for further cooperation.
Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko and Speaker of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Natalya Kochanova held a plenary session of the 10th Forum of Russian and Belarusian Regions in Ufa.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko sent video messages to the participants and guests of the forum.
The Russian President noted that the cooperation of the regions, which is growing with every passing year, is the heart of the truly allied Russia-Belarus relations and integration processes in the Union State. “For over 10 years, the forum has gathered heads of regions, parliamentarians, heads of ministries and departments, representatives of business and expert circles and public and youth organisations of the two countries, that is, those that are practically developing friendly, neighbourly ties between Russia and Belarus.”
According to Vladimir Putin, practically all regions of Russia and Belarus maintain mutually beneficial versatile contacts. “That said, the Far East, Siberia, the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol have stepped up the development of partnership with their Belarusian colleagues. The new regions of Russia are also interested in joining interregional cooperation.”
“Russia and Belarus are doing everything they can to ensure the sustainability of their economies and their immunity to the negative impact of sanctions. It is difficult, if not impossible to achieve success in these efforts without close interregional partnership,” the President of Russia said.
Vladimir Putin commended the joint regional initiatives aimed at promoting cooperation in scientific, educational and cultural areas, preserving common historical memory and countering the falsification of history. He mentioned the Memory Train project suggested by the upper chambers of both parliaments. “Schoolchildren from Russia, Belarus and other EAEU countries — Armenia and Kyrgyzstan – went by train to memorable places of the Great Patriotic War and took part in the youth programme of the forum in Ufa.”
President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko believes it is symbolic that the anniversary events are taking place in the very heart of Eurasia – Bashkortostan, the capital of the region with a rich history and culture.
“I consider that Russia made the right decision in expanding the geography of the forums by moving them to different regions of the Russian Federation. It allows the regions to reveal their advantages so far as is possible and demonstrate their economic potential. It is important for us to make sure that Russians thousands of kilometres away from our country learn even more about Belarus and clearly see the prospects of Russia-Belarus partnership,” the President of Belarus emphasised.
He said the two countries had laid a solid foundation for cooperation. “We must enhance the competitiveness of our countries by deepening industrial cooperation, resolving specialisation and import substitution issues in microelectronics and other high-tech areas, expanding interregional trade on the broadest scale, developing transport and logistics corridors and finding additional drivers for integration processes,” said Alexander Lukashenko.
He suggested that the forum of the Russian and Belarusian regions should go beyond the framework of the Union State and intensify cooperation with the CIS, the SCO, BRICS and ASEAN countries – with all those willing to work together. “We should turn the forum into a venue for generating interregional ideas, projects and initiatives,” he said.
In her remarks, Valentina Matvienko noted that today Russia and Belarus were going through a landmark period in their history. She said the attention that the presidents of Russia and Belarus devoted to the forum and interregional bilateral ties was motivating people to do their utmost, to achieve impressive results for the citizens, regions and the entire Union State.
“It is extremely important that at this turning point our countries are headed by such competent and esteemed leaders. Their firm political will, deep understanding of global processes and sincere striving to strengthen our union allow Russia and Belarus to overcome any threats and challenges,” she said.
Ms Matvienko noted that the forum had been expanding its geography every year. “This time, it is taking place in Ufa, a wonderful city and a real crossroads of cultures and traditions. Now it’s the forum’s easternmost venue. Being here, you understand the scale of the big Union State, its limitless ethnic and cultural diversity and the enormous potential of our countries and regions,” she said.
Valentina Matvienko thanked the Government of the Republic of Bashkortostan and personally its Head Radiy Khabirov for the tremendous preparatory work and all residents of Ufa and Bashkortostan for their hospitality.
She pointed out that the anniversary forum was taking place against the backdrop of major, pivotal events in the life of our countries and the rest of the world. Despite the resistance of the collective West, the world was implacably moving towards multi-polarity, to a more just and equitable arrangement. “In these difficult, tense conditions, the peoples of Russia and Belarus are standing shoulder to shoulder, as it has always been in our history. Together, we are upholding our right to independent development, sovereignty and a safe and prosperous future for the people of our countries,” she said.
Valentina Matvienko believes Russia and Belarus have built a unique system of political, economic, business and humanitarian relations. There is nothing comparable to it. She emphasised the creative character of the union. “Our friendship is not directed against anyone. It is helping us promote the independence and prosperity of our countries. This guarantees the Union State’s strength,” she said.
Ms Matvienko noted the contribution of the forum to strengthening Russia-Belarus integration. The Federation Council and the Council of the Republic have managed to find an effective cooperation format that is much in demand. “We have covered a lot of ground,” said Valentina Matvienko, adding that over these years, the number of participating regions has increased many times over. This year, the Donetsk People’s Republic is taking part in the forum for the first time. “We hope representatives of the Lugansk People’s Republic as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions will join us soon,” she said.
Valentina Matvienko considered it important that the forum was now discussing more issues than it did before. “Today, its agenda includes all key areas of interaction – from the development of industrial and scientific-technical cooperation to the promotion of cultural and spiritual ties between our peoples,” she said.
Ms Matvienko maintained that the main point was that agreements reached at the forum formed the basis for contracts between regions, companies, scientific, cultural and education organisations. She noted that there were already hundreds of these documents and people in both countries benefitted from their implementation.
The Federation Council Speaker emphasised that in the new economic reality, Russia-Belarus cooperation had been elevated to an entirely new level with Russia and Belarus carrying out joint projects not only in agriculture, machine-building and other traditional areas but also in microelectronics, the space industry and high technology.
She expressed the view that big prospects were opening up in the creation of a common education space. “In this respect, it is particularly important to focus on drafting joint programmes for secondary vocational education for high-tech production and other areas. We must build a clear-cut, transparent system for educating and supporting personnel – from admission to a college to employment at a company,” she said.
Valentina Matvienko saw the promotion of cultural, spiritual and moral ties as a major component of Russia-Belarus integration within the Union State. “We are planning to bring our laws and regulations into alignment on the protection, import and export of cultural property. We also plan to promote folk arts, preserve our ethno-cultural assets and to implement joint cinema projects,” she said.
The Federation Council Speaker believes that in the humanitarian area we must focus on countering any attempts to distort history and rehabilitate Nazism. She suggested using unconventional formats for this purpose, in part, in working with the younger generation. “I consider our Memory Train joint project a model of such a modern approach. It is bound to gain momentum in the future,” she said and cited another good example – the Russia-Belarus school For Security, based on the Shipbuilders of the Onega Lake Area cadet school in the Vologda Region. This project was initiated by Federation Council Deputy Speaker Yury Vorobyov. Ms Matvienko emphasised that he was doing a great deal for both patriotic education and the promotion of Russian-Belarusian friendship in general.
Valentina Matvienko also recalled that several major anniversaries linked with the history of the Great Patriotic War will be observed next year. “These include the 80th anniversary of Leningrad’s liberation from the Nazi siege and the 80th anniversary of the Operation Bagration. Preparations for these anniversaries should include the rendering of all necessary support to the veterans who took part in these major historical events, regardless of what region of Russia or Belarus they live in,” she said.
Valentina Matvienko is convinced that the forum will continue to play the role of the main interregional venue, uniting real friends, like-minded people from all regions of Russia and Belarus.
In her remarks, Natalya Kochanova noted the comprehensive support the forum had received from heads of state during its 10-year existence. “Despite the challenges of the times, Belarusians and Russians have firm confidence in the future. The presidents are setting clear guides for strategic cooperation between Belarus and Russia,” she said. In her opinion, integration is developing at all levels and the Union State is its peak. It is an important and geopolitically ambitious project of the two countries.
Ms Kochanova noted that the forum, which began as an annual event, was now a large and effective platform for dialogue, while the dynamics of the partnership between Russian and Belarusian regions had become unprecedented. “The anniversary forum is a landmark in the history of parliamentarism, interstate and interregional cooperation. We are proud of the forum of the regions. It is a Union asset, a priceless contribution by the current generations to the big future of our countries and peoples,” she said.
In her opinion, in ten years the forum has become one of the most powerful factors fusing Belarus and Russia in the economy and on the general human plane. “This is manifest in the intensification of contacts, the implementation of numerous successful projects and the steady expansion of areas of cooperation. This format is attracting increasing interest and achieving more with every year. The current forum has set new records – companies signed about a hundred agreements and contracts to the tune of 110 billion Russian roubles. But even this is not the limit,” Ms Kochanova said.
Natalya Kochanova urged the audience to focus not so much on presenting and scaling effective solutions as on drafting new promising directions and approaches to promote the qualitative development of the forum. “For this purpose, we should assess the role and place of interregional cooperation in the Union State’s system with due account of the recent irreversible geopolitical and economic changes and define the contours of a roadmap for joint efforts, using the prism of accumulated experience,” she said.
Ms Kochanova thanked Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan Radiy Khabirov for organising the forum and for the hospitable reception.
Federation Council Deputy Speaker Yury Vorobyov and Council of the Republic Deputy Speaker Valery Belsky also took part in the plenary meeting presidium.
Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Andrey Fedyayev welcomed the forum participants and wished them productive work. “The first cosmonaut of the Republic of Belarus will soon fly to space and we are very happy about this,” they said.
According to Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk, implementation of 28 union programmes is still a priority. “The Government of the Russian Federation is working to create the best conditions for the productive and uninhibited cooperation of people and companies within the Union State. This is all the more important in the current geopolitical conditions when our countries have been subjected to sanctions aggression and pressure by the collective West in all areas – political, economic and even cultural, given the attempts to cancel Russian culture,” he said.
Alexey Overchuk noted that as of today, 80 percent of the integration package of documents had been fulfilled and vigorous work was underway in all areas. “Cross-border interregional cooperation is one of the pillars and drivers of the integration forces of our states. We are completing work on harmonising our tax laws guided by common taxation principles. We are about to establish a national tax committee. Uniform rules to protect consumer rights in the Union State will be endorsed soon. Five information systems have been put into operation, making it possible to track the movement of transport vehicles and goods from their producers in the Union State to the shop shelves. We also consider cooperation in the special economic zones as promising,” he said.
First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Nikolai Snopkov noted that “the aggressive external games were useful. They speeded up integration.” He said the two countries were facing the strategic task of fully implementing the economic platform, building a common space for the movement of goods, services and transactions, and removing the remaining barriers and restrictions in order to facilitate the unimpeded development of interregional projects. “Ordinary people are interested in practical things – a broad range of high-quality goods and services at reasonable prices. In effect, our people will use these parameters to judge our effectiveness and the quality of our interstate integration and we will do all we can to meet their hopes,” he said.
Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture and representative of Bashkortostan’s executive government body Lilia Gumerova summed up the practical results of the 10th Forum of Russian and Belarusian Regions. The main outcome was the adoption of the strategy for the scientific and technical development of the Union State, which is expected to be signed by the autumn. The forum has mapped out prospects for the development of the Union State’s Library project. The participants suggested mechanisms for creating funds to stabilise agricultural markets. They signed a memorandum on the joint use of information systems on intellectual property. They supported a proposal to create domestic software to counter external threats and destructive content. The forum’s final document contains all these provisions.
Seven agreements were signed at the plenary session.
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The main theme of the events in Ufa – 10th anniversary of the Forum of Russian and Belarusian Regions: Results and Prospects. Organisers – the Federation Council, the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus and the Government of the Republic of Bashkortostan.
Overall, the forum hosted nine sections with the participation of Russian senators and their Belarusian counterparts, representatives of executive and legislative government bodies of Russian and Belarusian regions, related ministries and departments, municipal authorities of both countries as well as businesses, science and culture.
Fifty-eight regions of the Russian Federation and all regions of the Republic of Belarus were represented at the forum. The participants signed over 100 documents on cooperation at different levels. Russia was represented at the forum by 577 people, including 32 senators, 27 Government members and heads of federal executive bodies and 286 participants from Russian regions.