Tbilisi Hosts CIS Summit

Civil Georgia
June 2 2005

Meeting of the heads of governments and senior governmental officials
from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will be opened on
June 3 – the first-ever CIS summit held in Georgia.

A total of 34 issues are planned to be discussed during the summit,
but Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli will participate in
discussions of only nine issues, including related with cooperation
in trade between the CIS countries. Nogaideli said on June 1, that
this fact signals “necessity of reformation of the CIS.”

Although, Tbilisi plays down importance of the CIS and instead
focuses on cooperation in frames of GUAM grouping of Georgia, Ukraine,
Moldova and Azerbaijan, officials say Georgia’s withdrawal from this
organization is not yet on the agenda.

Most of the participants of the summit arrived in Georgia on June 2.

Russian 100-member delegation, which is the largest among the
participant delegations, which will be led by Prime Minister Mikhail
Fradkov, is expected to arrive early on June 3.

Belarus Prime Minister Sergey Sidorsky will also arrive early on June
3. Bilateral meeting between Sidorsky and Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili is not expected. Tbilisi has been criticizing recently
Belarus authorities for human rights abuse.

President Saakashvili made no secret about Tbilisi’s preferences
among the CIS countries and welcomed Ukrainian delegation led by
Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko in the Tbilisi airport – the only
delegation Saakashvili met at the airport.

“I welcome here Ukrainian Prime Minister and an old friend of
Georgia. Soon, we expect in Tbilisi my friend, [Ukrainian] President
Victor Yushchenko,” Saakashvili told reporters in the airport.

“I can not imagine [the Ukraine’s 2004] Orange Revolution without you
[Georgia],” Yulia Timoshenko told reporters upon arrival.

Along with participation in the summit Timoshenko will also hold
bilateral talks with her Russian counterpart Mikhail Fradkov in
Tbilisi on June 3.

The CIS, which was created shortly after collapse of the Soviet Union
in December 1991, mainly served as a regional forum and failed to
become a strong vehicle of integration between its 12 members.

Georgia was the last to join the organization in 1993.

During a visit to the Armenia capital of Yerevan on March 25, Russian
President Vladimir Putin described setting up of CIS as “a civilized
divorce” after collapse of the Soviet Union.

He said that the organization should continue its activities, as it
represents a “useful club” for the exchange of information as well
as for the determination of opinions on common problems and economic
and humanitarian issues.

“Expecting outstanding achievements in the spheres of economy,
political and military cooperation from the CIS naturally led to
nothing, since there were no prerequisites for that,” Putin said,
but added, “where is a better platform for the discussion of these
issues than the CIS?”