Tsepkalo: Russia’s call for Belarus to fulfill the Union State treaty justified

<p> MINSK, May 21 - PrimePress. One of the runners for Belarus presidency, Valeri Tsepkalo, the creator and former head of the Belarusian High-Tech Park, considers that Russia’s demand that Belarus should comply with all the provisions of the Treaty on creating the Union State of Belarus and Russia, signed on December 8, 1999, is well justified. Tsepkalo made a statement to this effect at a press conference on May 21. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Valery Tsepkalo, the creator and former head of the Belarusian High-Tech Park, announced his presidential ambition on May 8. Tsepkalo is a professional diplomat; served as first deputy minister of foreign affairs of Belarus, ambassador of Belarus to the United States, assistant to the President of Belarus. Tsepkalo’s initiative group was registered by the Central Election Commission of Belarus on May 20. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Tsepkalo reminded that the Union State Treaty consists of two parts - political and economic. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “Belarus has been demanding from Russia to fulfill only the economic part for 20 years. Russia has been faithfully fulfilling its obligations and giving us cheap prices of oil and gas, based on the second part [of the treaty]. Together with Russia, we did not fulfill the political part of the Treaty. Late last year Russia said: either let us supply oil and gas at a cheaper price than we do on the Polish border, but it will not be Russia’s domestic price, or let us fulfill the political part of our agreement to create a Union State. It seems to me that this formulation of the question is quite fair,” Prime reports citing Tsepkalo. </p> <p>   </p> <p> “My absolute belief is that we must comply with all the agreements signed by Belarus,” he stressed. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Tsepkalo also stated the need to modernize all sectors of the Belarusian economy and develop a non-energy-intensive economy. “If we develop an economy based on knowledge, non-energy-intensive, non-material-intensive (not the one - ed.), which requires a huge amount of energy resources, then, in principle, we can quite exist as the Czech Republic, Poland ... We will learn to save. We must learn to live within our means, to change the structure of our production, perhaps even to privatise the most energy-intensive enterprises with Russian capital,” he said. </p> <p>   </p> <p> Tsepkalo noted the close historical and cultural ties between the Belarusian and Russian peoples, the need to preserve the two state languages in Belarus, but noted that this does not mean that the country should not cooperate and develop the legal framework of relations with the United States, the European Union, which are sources of investment for it. </p> <p>   </p> <p> He said that the decision to run for presidency in Belarus was taken by him on his own, it is a conscious choice, while the views he will promote during the election campaign are “from heart and soul”. He rejected the assumption that he was a sparring partner of the incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko. </p> <p>   </p> <p> As previously reported, the first presidential election in Belarus was held on June 23 (first round) and July 10, 1994 (second round). A referendum on amendments to Article 81 of the Constitution of Belarus was held on October 17, 2004. The amendments abolished the restriction on the number of presidential terms in office for one person (previously no more than two five-year terms). Alexander Lukashenko has been staying in office since then. End </p>

2020-05-22

Primepress