BELARUS-RUSSIA JOINT BODY MAPS "INTEGRATION."

At a session chaired by Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin in Moscow yesterday, the Executive Committee of the Russia-Belarus Community focused on the formation of a common labor and housing market of the two states. Such a market is necessary to enable citizens of either state to move freely and to seek employment in the other state, Chernomyrdin said. The session also discussed the formation of a single customs area, placing the customs services under a single management, and unifying the two countries’ statistical and meteorological services. (Itar-Tass, June 18). The committee is the executive body of the Russia-Belarus Community established April 2 by presidents Boris Yeltsin and Aleksandr Lukashenko. Its decision are mandatory in theory, but the Belarus parliament has entered important reservations when ratifying the treaty and is likely to consider the committee’s decisions as non-binding.

Belarus President Attacks College Teachers.