April 2 is the Day of Unity of the Peoples of Belarus and Russia

On this very day in 1996 presidents of the two states, Boris Yeltsin and Aleksandr Lukashenko, signed the treaty On the Formation of the Community of Russia and Belarus. The signing marked the beginning of the process of mutual integration of the two countries.
Exactly one year later, on April 2, 1997, the Treaty on the Union of Belarus and Russia was signed. The main goals of the Union’s creation were to raise the peoples’ living standards, strengthen relations of brotherhood, friendship and cooperation in political, economic, social and other fields and ensure sustainable social and economic development of the participating countries by uniting their material and intellectual potentials.
The next important stage in the development of union relations between the two countries was the signing on December 25, 1998 of the Declaration on Further Unification of Belarus and Russia, the Treaty on Equal Rights of Citizens, the Agreement on Creating Equal Conditions for Economic Entities and the Protocol to it.
On December 8, 1999, the Treaty on the Creation of the Union State and the Action Plan of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation on the Implementation of the Treaty on the Creation of the Union State were signed.
Since then the Union State project has proved its relevance and viability. Over 200 inter-state and intergovernmental treaties and agreements have been concluded. The states are also bound by multilateral cooperation agreements within the CIS and the CSTO.
For more than two decades since the signing of the Treaty on the Creation of the Union State, Russia and Belarus have managed to establish mutually beneficial integration mechanisms, significantly strengthen bilateral cooperation in trade, economic, scientific, technical, humanitarian and other spheres, implement mutually beneficial joint projects and coordinate foreign and defence policy.
Vast efforts are being made to ensure equal rights of Belarusian and Russian citizens in social security, access to education and healthcare. A single migration space is being formed, an important step towards which was the signing of an intergovernmental agreement on mutual recognition of visas and other issues relating to the entry of foreign nationals and stateless persons into the territory of the Union State.
Each year the Union State funds programmes and projects in the field of healthcare, security and scientific and technical research.
In his congratulatory address on the Day of Unity of the Peoples of Belarus and Russia, Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia and Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, noted, “For 25 years [the holiday] has symbolized the desire of our countries to promote integration processes, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation and humanitarian relations. Russia and Belarus build their relations on the principles of strategic partnership, respect for mutual interests and non-interference in internal affairs. The approximation of national legislations within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia contributes to the development of the Union State for the benefit of our brotherly peoples, improvement of the quality of people’s life and implementation of joint projects.”
As you may recall, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia is an observer to the CSTO PA.
Materials from RIA Novosti and the press service of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation were used to prepare this article.
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