Lukashenko: Very serious debates during the EAEU summit

Opening the expanded-attendance session, President of Russia Vladimir Putin said that the parties had agreed not to make their own speeches in favor of yielding the floor to observer states and Belarus as the country that would take over the presidency over EAEU bodies.

Aleksandr Lukashenko added that the leaders had also agreed that the Belarusian side would notify partners about the main areas of work it intends to focus on during its EAEU presidency.

“During the restricted-attendance session we were discussing the staff and wages and I requested giving half a year to our Eurasian Economic Commission so that we could analyze the staff list and the wages in order to finally settle the matter of raising the wages. The debates were very serious – from wages to oil and natural gas. This is why we agreed that we will not make speeches here,” the head of state said.

The president suggested organizing the next summit in Minsk in late May. The Eurasian Economic Union has established a practice, according to which one session per year is organized in the territory of the presiding country and the other one is organized in Russia. “It doesn’t make sense for us to change this practice, this is why taking into account Belarus’ presidency over EAEU bodies I suggest organizing the summer session in Minsk and combining it with a Eurasian Economic Forum in accordance with the charter documents,” Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked.