Belarusian lawmakers to support budget of Russian-Belarusian Union

Belarusian lawmakers intend to support the 2003 budget draft of the Union State of Russia and Belarus at the 22nd regular session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Russian-Belarusian Union. A representative of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Russia and Belarus reported today that a respective decision was made at a meeting presided over by Vadim Popov, the deputy chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, on January 9, 2003.

The revenues to the Union's budget are expected to reach RUR2.44bn ($76.54m), of which Russia is to contribute RUR1.53bn ($47.99m), and Belarus is to pay RUR824.3m ($25.86m). About 95% of the budget funds will be allocated for financing mutual programs, which have already been started and have brought real results. Military technical cooperation, maintenance of facilities at the external border of the Union State, fighting crime, development of infrastructure, as well as economic cooperation have been mentioned among the priorities.