Call for faster development of Belarus-Russia Union State programs

The MPs heard out reports of representatives of government agencies and ministries, which develop Union State programs, and reports of the agencies that participate in the reconciliation of these documents. The MPs believe that the time allocated for working out and agreeing draft concepts of the programs is excessive. In some cases the reconciliation procedures last for years and the programs become irrelevant as a result. Participants of the session agreed that low quality of development of the draft documents is to blame for the protracted reconciliation of the draft Union State programs. This is why the MPs recommended that government agencies, which work out draft concepts of the programs and draft programs of the Union State, should find out reasons behind the poor development work and rule out the multiple reconciliation of the documents by financial and economic agencies of Belarus and Russia.

In a bid to improve the development of Union State programs the MPs suggested amending and expanding the Union State legislation. In particular, the procedures for elevating the status of documents, for including the development of deployment plans into documents, and for carrying out annual analyses of program implementation results should be amended. Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State of Belarus and Russia and representatives of the Standing Committee of the Union State of Belarus and Russia expressed their readiness to assist the developers of new programs of the Union State of Belarus and Russia with the preparation and reconciliation of the relevant documents.

Participants of the session also discussed the organization of inventorying of the assets, which are created and/or acquired at the expense of the Union State budget. The use of results in the course of realizing Union State programs and projects was also discussed. The MPs mentioned a number of shortcomings in the organization of work on the matter. In particular, the lack of the legal base and a unified system for evaluating, recording, and managing Union State property were mentioned. Apart from that, customers of Union State programs and projects were criticized for keeping poor records of Union State property. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State of Belarus and Russia recommended that the Standing Committee of the Union State of Belarus and Russia should get in touch with the State Property Committee of Belarus and the Federal Agency for State Property Management of the Russian Federation to work out guidelines on keeping records about assets, which are created and/or acquired at the expense of the Union State budget.

The MPs also decided to contact ministries and government agencies, which act as state customers of Union State programs and projects, in order to organize the proper record keeping about assets and properties, which are created and/or acquired as a result of Union State programs, projects, and measures since 1998 and up till now. The Accounts Chamber of Russia and the State Control Committee of Belarus were invited to inspect separate records of Union State property and the legality of its use.

Representatives of state customers of Union State programs and projects, which were completed in 1998-2020, will have to appear before the Budget and Finance Commission and the Economic Policy Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State of Belarus and Russia in order to deliver reports on the inventorying of assets, which were created and/or acquired as a result of these programs and projects.

Union State MPs, representatives of the Standing Committee of the Union State of Belarus and Russia, representatives of the ministries and government agencies, which act as state customers of Union State programs and projects, representatives of financial, economic, and oversight bodies of Belarus and Russia took part in the session.