The welcoming address reads that April 2, 1997 saw a historic event – Boris Yeltsin and Alexander Lukashenko signed an Agreement on the Union of Belarus and Russia. Leaders of the countries firmly stated their deliberateness to continue gradual movement to voluntary association in a Union State while preserving national sovereignty of the participating states of the Union. This document gave new impetus to the process of complex integration of two states.
An example of the Union of Belarus and Russia is a good precedent for a majority of republics of the post-soviet space. The Minister expressed her confidence that experience of the Russian-Belarus cooperation will be in future as fruitful and successful as it is now.
Nina Shtanski also pointed out that the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic with confidence declares its intention to intensify integration processes with the Russian Federation. In 2006, at the nation-wide referendum, the Pridnestrovian people expressed their desire to develop freely together with Russia. The head of the PMR's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed her hope that activity of Grigory Alekseevich in his position as a state secretary of the Union State of Russia and Belarus will be also aimed at assistance in practical realization of the will of the people of Pridnestrovie.
