RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, Czech Republic
Aug 26 2005

CIS: If It’s So Ineffectual, Why Do Leaders Keep Meeting?
By Valentinas Mite

Do CIS summits provide more than photo opportunities?
(CTK)
Leaders from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are holding
a summit today in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan. They are due to
discuss CIS reform, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and other issues.
The meeting, hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is expected
to end with agreements being signed on terrorism, fighting extremist
groups, and on curbing illegal migration. But the CIS is widely
considered to be ineffectual in its goal of preserving close economic
and defense ties between the former Soviet states. So why do the
leaders keep meeting?

Prague, 26 August 2005 (RFE/RL) — Many observers believe the current
summit of CIS leaders will be just as ineffectual as the ones that
preceded it.

Aleksei Malashenko of the Moscow Carnegie Center told RFE/RL that the
CIS has clearly failed in its mission of becoming an organization
integrating the post-Soviet states. “If we measure the effectiveness
in terms of organizing some kind of order in the post-Soviet
political and economic space, the importance [of the summits] almost
equals zero,” he said.

Malashenko said the CIS has failed to hammer out a coordinated
foreign policy, while little or no progress has been made in economic
cooperation and other spheres.

The CIS was founded in December 1991 in the wake of the Soviet
Union’s collapse. Of the 15 former Soviet republics, only the three
Baltic states did not join.

Malashenko said it is difficult to guess how the organization —
which serves as a venue for personal contacts and consultations
between the heads of state — will develop in the future. “I think it
will become clear what will happen with this organization during this
summit or in two more summits in the future,” Malashenko said. “We
will see if [the CIS] disappears completely or becomes some kind of a
presidential club.” He added that CIS summits at least afford leaders
an opportunity to reduce tensions and to consult without having to
make commitments.

CIS leaders themselves offer a more upbeat analysis, at least in
public. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev told journalists in
Kazan today that the CIS “should be preserved as an
organization…for the sake of economic integration and the
improvement of living standards of our people.”

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko promised to bring proposals to
Kazan on how to improve cooperation between Ukraine and the other CIS
states. Yushchenko said Ukraine will put up for discussion several
issues, including a mechanism for a free-trade zone within the CIS.

However, Stuart Hensel of the London-based Economist Intelligence
Unit said reviving the CIS isn’t a priority for Ukraine. “I think
[the Ukrainians] are very conscious about making it appear that they
are keeping all avenues of possible links with Russia open and that
they are open for discussion on any issues,” Hensel said. “I think
their line throughout all of this is going to be that any sort of
integration that happens through the CIS or through the Single
Economic Space, that this happens in ways that are in Ukraine’s
interest. And I don’t think they are going to back off of that in any
way.”

Hensel said it is in Ukraine’s interest to create a real free-trade
area instead of a trading system dominated by Russia. Since Russia
opposes the idea, this conflict of interest “will stop further
integration from happening.”

Yushchenko and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili are the
staunchest critics of the way the CIS has been functioning, but both
nevertheless continue to attend the summits. Malashenko says it easy
to understand why. “Both Yushchenko and Saakashvili clearly
understand that moving closer to Europe is not a sudden jump,” he
said. “It is a very long process, a very long one. In fact, it will
take a whole generation to make it. It is not solid to ignore the CIS
completely. And to pretend that they have nothing to do with it would
be childish.”

Both Georgia and Ukraine have made membership in the European Union
and NATO priorities. Yushchenko and Saakashvili met in Georgia two
weeks ago and discussed setting up a new regional alliance to
champion democracy in the former Soviet space.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress