CIS NEEDS MODERNIZATION AND REFORMS
By Aghavni Harutyunian

AZG Armenian Daily
30/11/2006

Summit Makes No Changes in Situation

The CIS Summit on November 28 testified that in the course of fifteen
years a number of various issues occurred between the CIS member
states. At present, a necessity to hold bilateral relations between
the CIS leaders is shaped.

Aleksander Lukashenko, President of Belarus, opened the CIS Summit in
Minsk. In his opening speech, he called for the CIS leaders to carry
out more active work for fruitful cooperation and deeper integration.

In the course of the meeting, Lukashenko emphasized the importance
of developing cooperation in economic spheres, and secure protection
of basic rights of the CIS citizens. Emphasizing that the issues of
ecological, cultural, scientific and educational character are quite
actual for the CIS countries, Lukashenko stated the importance of
preserving the current level of cooperation between the CIS states.

He added that there are some issues left unsettled in the CIS and
emphasized that they are still very actual. According to him, the
CIS authorities managed to keep back the former Soviet republic from
clashes in the post-Soviet space. Norsultan Nazarbaev, President
of Kazakhstan, CIS Chairman, also held a short speech, stating the
importance of carrying out reforms in the CIS.

The first issue on the agenda of the Summit was the results of the
fifteen years of the CIS functioning.

As it was expected, the main issue was directed to increasing the
efficiency of the CIS. The report dwelt on the modernization of the
CIS structures, the current situation and new balanced approached
for settlement of actual issues. It also pointed out the positive
achievements attained in the course of the fifteen years of the
CIS existence.

It’s worth mentioning that only President of Turkmenistan failed to
participate in the CIS Summit.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Health Care and Medical industry Minister
of Turkmenistan participated in the summated instead of him.

It’s worth noting that the Georgian Sources state that Georgian
President Mikheil Saakashvili and Russian president Vladimir Putin
may meet within the framework of the summit. While the Russian
sources, stated from the very beginning that such a meeting isn’t
envisaged. They informed that Vladimir Putin is going to meet with
President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin and Aleksander Lukashenko,
President of Byelorussia. After the enlarged sitting of the CIS Summit
a press conference was held with the participation of CIS Chairman,
Kazakhstan’s President Norsultan Nazarbaev and CIS Executive Secretary
Vladimir Rushaylo.

Nazarbaev stated that the Summit was aimed to sum up the results of the
CIS fifteen years of existence. He said that On December 21, 15 years
ago, it was decided to establish CIS. Nazarbaev said that at present,
they can state with confidence that the decision was a success and the
agreement approved itself. According to him, the current state of CIS
was no result of integration processes. At the same time, he said that
many documents adopted 15 years ago and later were not implemented.

Nazarbaev said that the future developments and CIS prospects were
discussed in the course of the summit.

He added that Kazakhstan suggested including the issue of reforming
the CIS in the agenda of the summit.

The participants of the summit agreed that the CIS structure should
be modernized. As a result of the sittings, the participants decided
to give relevant instructions of the CIS Foreign Ministers Council for
elaboration of the CIS improvement system till June 1, 2007. Nazarbaev
said that the meetings were held in constructive atmosphere.

It’s worth pointing out some issues concerning the relations between
Russia and Georgia. In response to the question what part may CIS play
in the Rusian-Georgian relations, Nazarbaev said that the Russian
and Georgian presidents had effectively exchanged views within the
framework of the Summit, but nothing less.

A package of documents was adopted at the summit, as well as economic;
security and stability issues were discussed. In particular, the issue
on agreeing about the bill on state-legal definition of the state
borders between the CIS states was not agreed by the presidents. The
Ukrainian side put forward the abovementioned issue, but one of the
CIS member states voted against its discussion which was enough for
excluding that from the agenda.

The next CIS Summit is envisaged in Dushanbe. In general, it’s worth
mentioning that Nazarbaev has stated for many times that number
of decisions are being adopted within the CIS framework, but 70%
of them remain unimplemented.