The draft budget of the Union State for 2015, amounting to almost 5 billion Russian rubles, has been approved.

October 22, Minsk /BELTA correspondent/. The draft budget of the Union State for 2015, amounting to almost 5 billion Russian roubles, was approved at the Union Council of Ministers meeting in Minsk on October 21. This was announced at a press conference following the meeting by the Chairman of the Government of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.

"We are pleased with the results achieved today. We discussed the economy, investments, and measures that should contribute to increasing trade turnover, as it has decreased somewhat recently. However, there are all chances to bring it onto a trajectory of sustainable growth," noted the head of the Russian government. Speaking about other results of the meeting, he pointed out that a good foundation has been laid for innovation programmes. Priorities for joint activities until 2017 were considered. He is also confident that Belarus and Russia have the potential for industrial cooperation.

According to Dmitry Medvedev, the Union State has an unconditional prospect for development. "The Union State is a very high level of integration that has not yet been achieved by any integration association," he stated.

Prime Minister of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich suggested that the issues discussed on October 21 on a bilateral basis and at the meeting of the Union Council of Ministers will become the subject of discussion by the Supreme State Council of the Union State at the level of heads of state, which will take place in December of the current year.

On October 21, a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Union State was held in Minsk. There were 35 items on the agenda. In particular, topics such as indicative balances of fuel and energy resources for 2014-2015, parameters of the draft budget of the Union State for 2015, and the functioning of the unified transport system were considered.

Participants of the meeting summed up the results of the implementation of several scientific and technical programmes and discussed the draft of a new one - "Research and Development of High-Performance Information and Computing Technologies for Increasing and Efficient Use of the Resource Potential of Hydrocarbon Raw Materials of the Union State" ("SKIF-NEDRA").