OREANDA-NEWS. On August 19, 2008, while on his working visit to the Russian Federation, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko held talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Sochi, reported the Official website http://president.gov.by.

The agreement to hold this meeting was made in June during the Russian President’s visit to Belarus.

At the outset of the talks Alexander Lukashenko highlighted the “important positive moment” in the bilateral relations after the June meeting with Dmitry Medvedev in Brest. “I have been watching closely how our agreements are being fulfilled. Even the minor issues that we considered then were solved virtually the next day, the next week after our meeting. The Belarusian side too has been acting in this manner,” said the Belarusian President.

Speaking about the plans for expanding the relationship in trade and economy, the Belarusian President said that all the necessary prerequisites were in place for Belarus and Russia to reach the mark of US30 billion in their bilateral trade in 2008.

Dmitry Medvedev called the Belarus-Russia trade record-breaking, and cited Russian experts’ opinion that the bilateral trade could indeed surpass the US30 billion mark in 2008. “This would be a good, solid result,” said the Russian President.

He proposed Alexander Lukashenko to consider “some issues of international life, international consequences of Georgia’s aggression against South Ossetia, issues pertaining to development of cooperation within the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO)”. “We need to discuss our nearest joint steps toward strengthening our strategic partnership,” said Dmitry Medvedev.