The Union State must progress within the Customs Union as well - scientists' opinion

April 16, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The Union State should exist and progress even within the framework of the Customs Union. This point of view was expressed by Belarusian and Russian scientists today at the international scientific and practical conference "Conceptual Foundations of the Integration Process of Russia and Belarus," which is being held in Vitebsk as part of the meeting of the Inter-Academic Council for the Development of the Union State, BELTA correspondent reports. "The Union State has created conditions for the economic integration of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan into the Customs Union," believes Boris Vardomsky, Doctor of Economics, researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Union State has done a lot for integration in the social sphere, and it has prospects for increasing activities in the scientific, educational, and innovation spheres. According to Daria Ushkalova, Candidate of Economics, researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Customs Union is nothing more than a classic union based on economic interests and a natural process of expanding the integration of Belarus and Russia. The further development of the Customs Union will be based on Belarusian-Russian relations, the scientist is convinced. This is due to the fact that the degree of integration between Belarus and Russia is higher than between Belarus and Kazakhstan, and Russia and Kazakhstan. During the international scientific and practical conference, scientists considered issues of economic and innovation cooperation as the basis for integration processes, discussed problems of developing the regulatory framework for integration, as well as sociological and ideological aspects of integration processes. Scientists from the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and the Russian Academy of Sciences took part in the conference. -0-