April 2nd - Union Day of Russians and Belarussians

The Union Day of the Russians and Belarussians will be marked on April 2nd.

On April 2nd in 1996, the Presidents of Russia and Belarus, Boris Yeltsin and Alexander Lukashenko, signed the Agreement on the Community of Belarus and Russia, in Moscow.

The Agreement on the Union of Belarus and Russia was signed on April 2, 1997. It enhanced the integration of the two countries.

On December 25, 1998 the Russian and Belarussian Presidents signed the agreement on further integration between the two states and made a joint statement.

These documents outline a gradual move towards a friendly Union State with the member-states of the Union keeping up their national sovereignty.

Then the Agreement on the Equal Rights of Citizens and the Agreement on Equal Conditions for Economic Entities were inked.

The Agreement on the Union State signed on December 8, 1999 marked a new level of union relations between Russia and Belarus and laid out the main integration stages.

A common economic space, equal conditions and guarantees for economic entities and dynamic economic development are the priorities for the Union State.

On Wednesday, the draft project of the Constitutional Act of the Union State will be finalised envisaging the structure and the legal system of the Union State.