NEW GROUP OF GEORGIA’S FRIENDS FOUNDED
by Vladimir Socor
Eurasia Daily Monitor
Monday, February 7, 2005 — Volume 2, Issue 26
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria founded
the “New Group of Georgia’s Friends” on February 4 in Tbilisi. The
specification “new” differentiates it from the decade-old “Group
of Friends of Georgia,” originally comprised of the United
States, Germany, Britain, and France. That old group became
collectively dysfunctional some years ago when it turned into the “UN
Secretary-General’s Group of Friends of Georgia” and allowed Russia
to join as a veto-wielding member. That group also has inevitably
been affected by the drift toward a Russia-First approach in Berlin
and Paris.
The New Group does not in any way intend to supersede the old one. It
is, rather, a different group with its own distinct mission, answering
to new requirements that could hardly have been anticipated when
the old group had taken shape. The New Friends propose to share with
Georgia their experience as formerly Communist-ruled countries that
have completed or are set to complete their Euro-Atlantic integration
processes, and now intend to promote such processes in the Black
Sea-South Caucasus region.
Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Salome Zourabichvili chaired the
New Friends’ founding meeting in Tbilisi, with her Estonian counterpart
Kristiina Ojuland attending, along with State Secretaries for Foreign
Affairs from the other five New Friends countries. The group is
open to new member-countries from among new members of NATO and the
European Union; and it hopes to bring in Azerbaijan and Armenia into
the group in the next stage.
The New Friends intend to assist Georgia’s internal reforms and
its efforts to qualify for eventually joining NATO and the EU,
as well as to support international steps to provide security for
Georgia. According to press releases from the Lithuanian and Georgian
Ministries of Foreign Affairs, and informal statements to journalists
in Tbilisi after the meeting, the New Friends’ goals include:
— assisting in the implementation of the Georgia-NATO Individual
Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), the success of which can lead to a
Membership Action Plan (MAP, a goal implied but not stated on this
occasion); working to support NATO’s open-door policy;
— working within the EU to initiate the drafting, in a timely manner,
of an EU-Georgia Action Plan as part of the EU’s recently adopted
European Neighborhood Policy (in which the South Caucasus is now
included after having been omitted initially);
— providing the services of experts for drafting of Georgia’s
European integration strategy and for administrative capacity-building
in Georgia;
— jointly urging, within international organizations, the removal of
Russian bases and troops from Georgia, in accordance with Russia’s 1999
Istanbul Commitments; elevating this issue on the EU’s policy agenda;
— supporting Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s recently
launched South Ossetia Peace Initiative (see EDM, January 27);
— calling attention to the importance of EU and NATO participation
in international efforts to resolve conflicts in the region.
As an urgent political priority, the New Group of Friends is urging
the EU to take over the Georgia Border Monitoring Mission, which the
OSCE has (at Russia’s insistence) given up.
Several programs are under way or getting started on a national
basis. Estonia (a European front runner in computerization of public
services) plans to launch one of its “Tiger Leap” programs for the
computerization of Georgia’s public services, as well as to open a
military liaison office in Tbilisi (an Estonian defense adviser is
already stationed there). Meanwhile, a Lithuanian heads the EU’s
rule-of-law advisory mission in Georgia; and a Latvian serves as
NATO’s liaison official for the South Caucasus, based in Tbilisi.
For effective implementation of direct assistance to Georgia from
their small resources, the New Friends intend to coordinate efforts,
avoid duplication, and provide lists of experts available to work
with Georgia. The New Group of Friends plans to hold meetings
several times a year. Romania has offered to host the next meeting
and to invite some additional countries, in keeping with the goal of
enlarging the Group’s format.
Two initiatives have converged into the founding of the New Group
of Friends of Georgia. One initiative is Romania’s, launched by
then-Minister of Foreign Affairs Mircea Geoana in 2003, and continued
energetically by Romania’s new President Traian Basescu and new
government, reaching out to Black Sea countries on the new border of
the enlarged NATO. The other initiative, spearheaded by Lithuania,
seeks to impart the Baltic states’ successful post-Soviet transition
experience to Georgia and other Black Sea-South Caucasus countries.
Saakashvili’s October 2004 visit to the Baltic states (see EDM,
October 21) occasioned preparatory discussions on a 3 +1 and a 3 +
3 framework (Baltic-Georgia, Baltic-South Caucasus). The Group of
Friends now covers the Baltic-Black Sea space, anchoring the eastern
Black Sea shore.
Monday, February 7, 2005 — Volume 2, Issue 26
IN THIS ISSUE: *Georgia’s Friends: New Group, Added Value *Tymoshenko
announces her leadership team, emphasizing diversity *Increasing doubts
that Putin will ever visit Japan *PONARS scholars doubt longevity of
United Russia