President Viktor Yanukovych and President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko held a joint press conference on the results of today’s Ukrainian-Belarusian talks in Minsk.

"Resources of relations between Ukraine and Belarus are far from being exhausted and we build these relations on the principles of mutual trust, respect and beneficial partnership," said President Yanukovych. According to him, sides have reached the agreement on assistance from Belarus to Ukraine in overcoming the financial and economic recession.

Among the important issues discussed, President Yanukovych also named the cooperation between border regions of our countries. "We need to liberalize customs regulations, improve local border trade," he said. In addition, Viktor Yanukovych expressed hopes that Belarus will be a reliable partner of Ukraine in transit of goods to the Baltic countries. Ukraine, in turn, will facilitate access of Belarus to the Black Sea.

The most important question of humanitarian cooperation the President named celebration of the 65th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. "With Belarus and Russia we have agreed to hold joint events, greet veterans, improve social security for them, because veterans are our heroes, who gifted victory to our land," said Viktor Yanukovych.

The President said he highly appreciates the results of his visit to Belarus. "We will be able to find mutually beneficial terms to complement the economies of our countries," said Viktor Yanukovych.

Alexander Lukashenko in turn said that today's talks demonstrated that the sides are able to resolve any issues successfully. "Today we identified strategic areas of cooperation, which will bring the relations between Ukraine and Belarus to a new level," he said. According to President Lukashenko, sides have great potential for energy, transport and transit, industrial, regional and border cooperation, as well as in protection of cultural heritage. "A broad agenda was prepared and I am sure that implementation of the agreements will contribute substantially into strengthening the sovereignty and independence of our countries," said Alexander Lukashenko.