Lukashenko displeased with faltering integration programs of Russia-Belarus Union State

MINSK. Jan 12 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has expressed dissatisfaction with the implementation of certain programs of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, the signing of which has been delayed.

The programs and departmental plans define about 1,000 tasks, deadlines and designated officials, Lukashenko said at a meeting on the fulfillment of the Union State's integration programs in Minsk on Thursday.

"About 70% of the tasks have been fulfilled. Still, some [of the tasks] important to us are behind schedule. I have been told that our Russian partners are slow to fulfill certain assignments. Yet I always say there is never just one culprit. We are also failing somewhere," the presidential press service quoted Lukashenko as saying.

The meeting aims to discuss progress in the fulfillment of 28 sectoral programs adopted at a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State just over one year ago, he said.

"I mean this is an action plan of ours - Belarus and Russia - for the upcoming period. We agreed back then that their implementation would give a boost to the provision of equal rights of citizens and economic entities in both countries," Lukashenko said.

The program is a foundation for relations with Russia that envisages equal terms for people and enterprises, Lukashenko said. "This is why we have aimed at a comprehensive settlement of many aspects of cooperation with the Russian Federation," he said.

First and foremost, this is a matter of economic integration and the creation of conditions for cooperation between enterprises in both countries, Lukashenko said.

In that context, Lukashenko ordered that the implementation of Union State programs be expedited and noted the impossibility of signing a new package of documents before the previous one is fulfilled.

"We will continue to deepen our economic integration with Russia yet we can speak about a new package of integration documents only after the fulfillment of the previous one is finalized," the First Man's Pool Telegram channel quoted Lukashenko as saying.

He also declared the importance of the utmost intensification of the fulfillment of Union State programs.

"Any stalling or delays in the decision-making process are inadmissible. There should be no rush either. God forbid we make a mistake," Lukashenko said.

"Especially now when our countries are countering the frenzied sanctions pressure of the so-called collective West together," he said.