Russian, Belarusian Leaders Narrow Differences On Integration - Minister

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Russian, Belarusian Leaders Narrow Differences on Integration - Minister

SOCHI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th December, 2019) Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, on Saturday ironed out some differences over the integration between their countries, a Russian minister said.

"The day was very intense. They worked productively. A lot of progress was made in such areas as agriculture, telecom, customs, and the oil market. They even narrowed differences considerably on the issue related to oil and gas," Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin said.

He added that the presidents had come to talks with fewer contentious issues after their prime ministers discussed the integration roadmap on Friday.

"Now there are even fewer of them [differences] and we know how to move forward on most of them," the minister told reporters.

The closed-door talks at Putin's Sochi residence lasted almost six hours. They were followed by a banquet to mark 20 years since the creation of the Union State of Russia and Belarus. The next summit will be held in St. Petersburg on December 20.