BOOSTING CIS EFFECTIVENESS WAS AMONG KEY ISSUES – KAZAKH PRES

ITAR-TASS, Russia
Nov 29 2006

MINSK, November 29 (Itar-Tass) -The leaders of the CIS countries
who held a summit in the Belarussian capital, adopted a statement on
stepping up cooperation in fighting illegal migration.

The CIS presidents also signed an agreement on the director of the
CIS antiterrorist center.

The CIS presidents decided to gather for the next top-level meeting
in St.Petersburg, Russia, on June 10, 2007.

Taking part in the ceremony of signing documents at the summit were
the delegations of the CIS states.

CIS executive secretary Vladimir Rushailo said the heads of state had
failed to reach a consensus on border delimitation issues. "The border
issue was raised by Ukraine. At a meeting between the CIS foreign
ministers on October 16, three countries objected to the document
on state borders. Then, in accordance with the Charter, one of these
countries expressed its objection, so the issue has been taken off,"
Rushailo underlined.

Speaking at a summit meeting attended by CIS delegations, Belarussian
President Alexander Lukashenko said Minsk had always been a good floor
for settling all issues and that his country had done everything for
the current summit to be effective and dynamic.

"We have no complaints from all other summiteers," Lukashenko said.

For his part, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev expressed his
gratitude to the Belarussian leadership and people for kinds words
and hospitality.

"The agenda was packed; in particular, the CIS leaders were discussing
development prospects, improving CIS effectiveness, humanitarian
cooperation and the stepping up of joint work in fighting illegal
migration," Nazarbayev said.

He elaborated on the problem of creating a zone of free trade in the
CIS, acknowledging that the process was making headway with difficulty.

The issues related to the free trade zone have been under consideration
for a long time, with Ukraine raising them persistently.

Ukraine simply assumes that borders should be open. But a free
trade zone implies uniform tariffs and a uniform tax policy. All
the documents should be signed, ratified and become law, the Kazakh
leader underlined.

As of now, 39 decisions have been approved of the 92 necessary for
normal functioning of the free trade zone. Issues are more often
resolved on a bilateral basis. Unlike the CIS, the Eurasian Economic
Community has coordinated up to 70 percent of documents on creating
a free trade zone.

The Kazakh president said a "very good exchange of opinions" had
taken place between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili.

"It went very calmly, and it gives the hope that the relations between
the countries will improve with assistance by the sides," Nazarbayev
told a news conference.

The president of Kazakhstan, whose country is presiding in the CIS,
said that the Russian-Georgian relations were not on the summit’s
agenda.

He was asked why the Russian and Georgia presidents had not held a
separate meeting.

"It is not convenient for me to comment my counterparts, this is their
question. This meeting is outside the CIS framework. On the whole, a
very good exchange of opinions has taken place at the summit /between
the Russian and Georgian presidents/," Nazarbayev said.

For his part, CIS executive secretary Vladimir Rushailo, answering the
question about a future participation of Georgia, said this country
had not sent any official document to the CIS administration stating
its intention to withdraw from the organization.

"We haven’t received any statements from Georgia on its intention
to withdraw from the Commonwealth. I wouldn’t like to comment on
politicians’ statements, especially because they’ve been voiced for
the past eight to ten years," Rushailo said.

Azerbaijan’s president Ilkham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart
Robert Kocharian met after the CIS summit on Tuesday at the Russian
embassy in Minsk, to discuss a settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict.

The two leaders met one-on-one. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
opened the talks.

The summit was somewhat overshadowed by Belarus’ decision to bar
several reporters from covering the event. Kremlin journalists then
left the summit venue in protest, saying Minsk’s decision was not
justified. They informed the press office of the Russian president
about their decision, which unsuccessfully attempted to resolve
the problem.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress