MOSCOW, April 17./TASS/. Belarus remains Russia’s closest partner, Moscow has sent proposals on further integration to Minsk, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said after his address to the nation’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, reporting on the performances of his cabinet in 2018.

"Belarus remains our closest partner, it is member of the Union State," he said, reiterating that the Union Treaty marks 20 years in 2019. "At the present moment, we are engaged in a conversation with our colleagues, our partners from Belarus, about how to make this integration more substantial. Our proposals on integration have been passed to our Belarusian friends," Medvedev said.

The official Minsk is "deciding what is acceptable for them and what is less acceptable," Medvedev said. "Contacts continue, our agencies are working," he said, stressing that Belarus is a very important market for Russia.

No decisions have been revised or canceled, he stressed. "We will continue developing our cooperation, but we must remember, of course, that this cooperation must be mutually advantageous in the end," he stressed. These are the principles that the dialogue is built around, including at the level of the presidents and prime ministers, he said.

Discussion on the issue will continue, Medvedev went on to say. "These negotiations will continue on all trajectories, from industrial cooperation to activity on the markets of third countries," he summed up.