BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

12/12/2007

Putin to visit Minsk on December 13-14

MOSCOW, December 11 (Itar-Tass) -- Presidents Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko had a telephone conversation on Tuesday, the Kremlin press service said.

"The chiefs of state discussed the Minsk meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Russia-Belarus Union State due on December 13-14 and the official visit of the Russian president to Belarus," the press service said.

The Supreme State Council will convene on Friday, December 14. According to Union State Secretary Pavel Borodin, they will approve the Union State's budget for next year and discuss the adoption of a constitutional act and fuel and energy cooperation.

The draft budget is slightly bigger than four billion Russian rubles, including 2.6 billion donated by Russia. The money will fund 38 joint programs in industries, energy, construction, military-technical cooperation, law enforcement, security, culture, education and social affairs.

The constitutional act is of particular importance.

Five versions of the document have been prepared, Borodin said. The draft suggests a confederation of Russia and Belarus. It is planned to form a union parliament and delegate certain powers, including border protection, customs, defense, military-technical cooperation, financial, credit and price policy, to the Union State.

It is not planned to establish the posts of the Union State's president and ministers, Borodin said. "It is possible for executive authorities to work jointly, like they are doing in Europe," he said.

Meanwhile, former State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said recently that the formation of Union State bodies was the biggest problem. "We could not choose any way of entrusting the Union State leader with powers," he said. According to Gryzlov, the leader will hardly be put in office through a universal ballot.

The media claimed that Vladimir Putin might head the Union State, while Alexander Lukashenko might become the Union speaker. Both Moscow and Minsk rejected the claims.

The Russian government approved a draft program of the unification of social and labor laws on Monday.

Moscow and Minsk have also agreed on the delivery of Russian gas and oil in 2008. The Minsk negotiations are expected to put an end to the problem, which has been an irritant in the bilateral relations all through this year.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12170921&PageNum=0