What’s on the Supreme State Council agenda? Glazyev previews upcoming meeting

“Nearly all the issues being brought before the Supreme State Council have been agreed upon by our governments. On 2 February, the Council of Ministers of the Union State met, reviewed these issues, and made decisions. The Supreme State Councilwill only need to give political approval and green light these projects,” Sergey Glazyev said.

The state secretary of the Union State cited suburban cross-border railway service as one such issue: “It will connect our border regions. Initially, this involves Smolensk Oblast and Vitebsk Oblast. A project will be implemented: two electric trains will operate daily between Smolensk and Vitebsk, and between Orsha and Smolensk. All benefits that our citizens have under national legislations will be preserved.”

Sergey Glazyev noted that the guidelines to implementing the Union State Treaty will be the key item on the agenda of the Supreme State Council. “This is our main document, which defines the primary areas of work from 2024 to 2026. Half of the outlined measures have already been completed. In particular, the regulatory framework for the Union State product has already been adopted. If you remember, Aleksandr Lukashenko spoke about this several years ago while visiting the Irkutsk Aviation Plant. This idea was embodied in the methodology for determining the Union State product,” he emphasized. 

According to this methodology, a product of the Union State will be considered one in which the Belarusian or Russian component accounts for at least 50% of its value. “For us, this is an opportunity to provide them [Union State products] with credit expansion mechanisms, to create opportunities for expanding the production of such goods, and to fully saturate our Union State market,” Sergey Glazyev explained.

The state secretary of the Union State called this decision a great opportunity for development and noted that an investment platform of the Union State has been prepared. This platform will make it possible to use all existing development institutions with the support of central banks and governments in order to expand financing for cooperative projects.