Russia and Belarus have accomplished more than third of planned integration projects - Mishustin

MINSK. June 20 (Interfax) - Russia and Belarus have already accomplished more than one third of all projects as part of the two countries' 28 integration programs, and Minsk expects the number of integration projects to keep growing.

"More than a third of the 983 projects [envisaged by these programs] has already been accomplished. Priority attention has been given to the creation of a common socioeconomic space, in-depth cooperation in industry, energy, agricultural, the digital economy, and the transport sector," Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said when opening talks with his Belarusian counterpart Roman Golovchenko in Minsk on Monday.

Golovchenko, in turn, underscored that cooperation between Russia and Belarus is ongoing "amid unprecedented pressure."

"Pressure is probably more of a political word. In actual fact, it is an economic war, which has been unleashed against Belarus and Russia. The governments of our countries did a great deal at the national level from March-June to minimize the consequences of this pressure," he said.

The Belarusian prime minister agreed that "the 28 union programs have been helping a lot here, beyond any doubt."

"I think that their number will grow in the near future. We are working on that," Golovchenko said.

"Mutual support and coordination in overcoming crisis developments are now moving to the forefront" for Russia and Belarus, he said.

"Work in individual areas has been proceeding slower than we'd like, [slower] than the time requires," he said.

Golovchenko invited Mishustin to discuss these issues and to adopt all necessary decisions on them at this meeting.

"I hope we will find a consensus on these issues," Golovchenko said.