OREANDA-NEWS. Moscow and Minsk have to consider uniting the national payment systems, Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich said.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev who participated at a meeting with Myasnikovich said that Russia and Belarus also need to start swap deals with their national currencies and to use more proactively the ruble for payments in the two countries.

The countries are about to sign several important deals but before that step, the Belarusian government has to get ready to privatize some of its assets, Medvedev said, commenting on the creation of a MAZ-Kamaz joint venture and cooperation in production of nitrogen fertilizers.

"I can say that in several projects we are on the verge of making a final decision, but of course, it is Belarus the one who must decide upon it because it is a privatization decision," he said.

Medvedev said that agreements on some of the deals may be signed by the end of 2014.