29.03.2023
On April 2, the Day of Unity of the Peoples of Belarus and Russia is celebrated
The Day of Unity of the Peoples of Belarus and Russia is annually celebrated on April 2 in Belarus and Russia. On this day, both our peoples celebrate the idea of their unification. On this day in 1996, the presidents of both countries met in Moscow to create a Community of Belarus and Russia. Officially, this agreement entered into force two months after it had been signed.
It should be noted that our peoples are very close and similar. We are united by a similar history and culture, as well as a large number of common interests and problems. All this contributes to the rapprochement of the two countries.
On April 2, 1997, the Community was transformed into the Union of Belarus and Russia. This document gave a new impetus to the process of unification of the two states. It should be noted that the idea of creating such a Union was first expressed by the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.
The Charter of the Union was adopted on May 23, 1997. And on December 8, 1999, the signing of the Treaty on the Creation of the Union State took place.
In these documents, the Heads of State declared their firm determination to continue steps towards the unification of the two countries. At the same time, a very important point can be called the fact that states, when united, retain their national sovereignty.
On January 26, 2000, the Union officially became known as the Union State.
The creation of this union provides for the gradual organization of a single economic, political, military, monetary, legal, customs, humanitarian and cultural space.
It is assumed that the citizens of Belarus and Russia will no longer feel like foreigners in relation to each other. A coordinated social policy is being implemented, which ensures equal rights for citizens of both countries.
Migration policy continues to improve, active cooperation is underway to form a common labor market. There is an increase in cooperation in the field of education, health, culture, sports and youth policy. Within the framework of the Union State, a large number of various joint programs and projects are being implemented in such areas as construction, industry, energy, space exploration, hydrometeorology, development of computer and innovative technologies, etc.
Every year on April 2, on the Day of Unity of the Peoples of Belarus and Russia, various festive events and meetings of the leaders of the countries are held in the capitals of both states, Moscow and Minsk.
One of the first Agreements concluded after the collapse of the Soviet Union between the newly independent states was the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Hydrometeorology, signed in Moscow in 1992.
The Agreement on the Formation of the Community of Belarus and Russia, signed in 1996, set the task of creating a unified meteorological service.
In order to implement the provisions of the Agreement on the Formation of the Community of Belarus and Russia for the Organization and Provision of joint activities of the two countries in the field of hydrometeorology and environmental monitoring, on December 18, 1996, the Executive Committee of the Community of Belarus and Russia approved the Regulations on the Committee of the Community of Belarus and Russia on Hydrometeorology and Environmental Pollution Monitoring, which was subsequently renamed the Committee of the Union State on hydrometeorology and environmental pollution monitoring (hereinafter referred to as Soyuzkomgidromet).
Soyuzkomgidromet is an organ of the Union State that organizes and coordinates activities at the interstate level in the field of hydrometeorology and related fields (meteorology, climatology, hydrology, agrometeorology, heliogeophysics), monitoring environmental pollution, as well as providing government agencies, the population, the economy and the armed forces with data and information on actual and forecasted weather-climatic conditions, the state and pollution of the natural environment.
In order to optimize the functioning of the Soyuzkomgidromet, a joint board consisting of ten people was created. The joint board of the Soyuzkomgidromet consists of: the chairman, the deputy chairman (heads of authorized state administration bodies of Belarus and Russia in the field of hydrometeorology or persons appointed in these bodies as managers of activities in the field of hydrometeorology), as well as four members appointed on a parity basis from Belarus and Russia.
Meetings of the joint board of the Soyuzkomgidromet have been held at least twice a year since 1996. Over the 26 years of its existence, Soyuzkomgidromet has held 74 meetings.
73rd meeting of the Joint Board of the Union State Committee on Hydrometeorology and Environmental Pollution Monitoring Irkutsk, August 10-11, 2022
74th meeting of the Joint Board of the Union State Committee on Hydrometeorology and Environmental Pollution Monitoring Mogilev 7-8 December 2022.
Traditionally, representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia, the Standing Committee of the Union State, executive authorities and scientific circles of Russia and Belarus are invited to participate in the work of the joint board of the Soyuzkomhydromet. The result of the meetings are decisions that determine the vector of further interaction and development of the state hydrometeorological services of Russia and Belarus for the near and medium-term prospects.
Thanks to the activities of Soyuzkomgidromet, the state hydrometeorological services of Russia and Belarus regularly exchange advanced scientific developments in the field of hydrometeorology and related fields, carry out technical modernization, as well as increase human resources and production capacities.
Historically, Soyuzkomgidromet acts as a guarantor of the development and implementation of programs of the Union State in the field of hydrometeorology and related fields.
Thanks to the effective work of the state hydrometeorological services of Russia and Belarus, five programs of the Union State in the field of hydrometeorology and related fields have been successfully developed and implemented under the auspices of Soyuzkomgidromet. A program of joint activities of Russia and Belarus within the framework of the Union State is being developed to ensure hydrometeorological safety in conditions of climate variability and change from 2023 to 2027.
The implementation of five programs of the Union State in the field of hydrometeorology and related areas contributed to:
1. Improvement of methods and technologies of hydrometeorological forecasts and warnings to ensure the safety of life and reduce damage from dangerous and adverse weather events, as a result of which global and regional hydrodynamic models of a new generation have been developed.
To ensure the agricultural sector, work was carried out to adapt a number of methods to the changed climatic conditions, an automated operational system for assessing droughts was developed.
2. The development of climate research at the regional and international levels, as a result of which technologies have been developed to assess the effects of climate change on various sectors of the economy, as well as complexes of appropriate adaptation measures.
3. Improvement of environmental pollution monitoring technologies to increase the efficiency of environmental protection activities of the Union State, as a result of which the methods of forecasting atmospheric air and surface water pollution in radiation accidents have been updated. Under the auspices of Soyuzkomgidromet, specialists from Russia and Belarus took part in the design of the Belarusian NPP. New methods have been developed for determining pollutants in natural waters and bottom sediments, as well as comprehensive assessments of the state of water bodies, the background state of the natural environment and transboundary flows of pollutants.
4. Development of monitoring systems for the state of the natural environment, their technical, technological and metrological support, as a result of which new technologies and equipment have been developed for obtaining, collecting, processing and distributing information about the state of the natural environment. Serial production of meteorological, actinometric sensors and instruments, automated measuring complexes and automatic stations have been started. In addition, the unified system of information support for the needs of the Union State in hydrometeorological data has been optimized, new methods of storm warning exchange between the regional centers of Russia and Belarus have been worked out, ways to improve data exchange technology have been identified.
5. Improvement of technologies for processing regime hydrometeorological information and the formation of databases on the state of the natural environment, as a result of which software tools for primary processing, accumulation and dissemination of regime meteorological information of stations and posts, hydrological information on rivers and canals, lakes and reservoirs, software complexes have been developed and implemented.
The results achieved during the implementation of previous programs have a positive effect on the preservation of a favorable environment, the adaptation of economic sectors, vital interests of individuals and society to climate change, as well as increasing their level of protection from the effects of natural hazards and are also taken into account when developing a program for the next five-year period.
It is planned that the program for 2023-2027 will increase the resilience of social, economic and environmental systems to climate variability and change by developing effective and sustainable regional and national climatic, hydrometeorological, geophysical and environmental services.
Over the 26 years of its existence, Soyuzkomgidromet has established itself as a unique integration platform that has a positive effect on the activities of the state hydrometeorological services of Russia and Belarus, and its activities play a significant role in the functioning of the Union State, especially taking into account the current global climate agenda.
When using the information, a link to Belhydromet is required
