OREANDA-NEWS. October 29, 2009. The next year’s Union State budget will be as large as this year’s, said Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin after a session of the Union State Council of Ministers in Moscow on 28 October.

Vladimir Putin said the sides have agreed to preserve the Union State budget size despite the economic difficulties brought about by the global financial crisis.

The Russian Prime Minister also said that Union State budget funds should be used effectively, in particular, with regard to high-tech programs.

He said the session had discussed the implementation of the joint anticrisis program in detail. Yet the Russian Premier believes that new steps should be taken to expand Belarusian-Russian manufacturing cooperation and new projects able to pull the two economies and contribute to increasing the mutual trade should be adopted.

Apart from that, Vladimir Putin dwelled on the oncoming tenth anniversary of the signing of the Union State treaty. “We intend to properly get ready for celebrating the date,” he said.

On the whole the Russian head of government was positive about results of the session of the Union State Cabinet.