Belarussian President Meets Russian Audit Chamber Head

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has praised the performance of the two control committees, the Russian Audit Chamber and the State Control Committee of Belarus, and called it necessary and useful. The Belarussian president said as much before a meeting with head of the Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation Sergei Stepashin.

According to Lukashenko, it's difficult to work in the economic sphere without a tough control body. Alexander Lukashenko supported Sergei Stepashin's initiative to check the performance of CIS bodies in spending budgetary means. "No one has long wondered on what these means are spent, though the sums are large," Lukashenko said.

Stepashin announced that "a thorough analysis of programmes which are adopted at the highest level and yet do not work" would be conducted in 2004. "We want to establish what particular ministry or department hampers the work," Stepashin said.

The head of the Russian Audit Chamber said it would be necessary to inspect the spending of means on programmes of the Russia-Belarus Union.