by Najam Abbas

Special for EurasiaNews

Dushanbe, 21 November 1998

Boris Berezovskiy, the Secretary General of Commonwealth of Independent States paid a whistle-stop visit to Baku, Ashkabad and Dushanbe this week as a part of his trail blazing tour of the CIS states. Talking to reporters at Dushanbe airport on Friday about the top item on his visit’s agenda, Berezovsky said, "the issue is about reforming the Commonwealth of Independent States as raised by CIS leaders" in their April 1998 meeting. There is an increasing demand that reforms should be introduced in "an effective and decisive manner." He added that "the task ahead is to build the foundations for joint collaboration for mutual economic welfare reflecting a need to take care for the common interests, a need to create such conditions that economics takes a leading role in the relations of the CIS member countries."

The three-day blitz trip to Azerbaijan -Turkmenistan-Tajikistan allowed Berezovskiy to learn the views of the leadership of these countries on the future of the Commonwealth. As he left Baku, a statement by Azerbijan’s President Gaider Aliev emphasized the need to have a Commonwealth which is geared to bring economic benefits to all and not just one state.

Berezovsky’s talk of the economy taking a precedence over other spheres of activity in the CIS in fact echoed what several other leaders of important member countries have been saying in bilateral summits and in different CIS meetings in the recent past. Ukranian President Leonid Kuchma and Kazakstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbaev have been sending clear signals to Russia expressing their dissatisfaction with the present setup of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The following lines would illustrate as to what extent some CIS member countries were disgruntled over the state of affairs and that they actually have started taking measure either to bypass the CIS or replace it with alternate arrangements.

Just days before the summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States leaders held last year in Moldova’s capital Kishinau, Kazakstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbaev said that the CIS should have an economically beneficial character for all member states on equal basis. "What matters most is economic benefits," said Nazarbaev, adding that "if we see progress in that direction, only then any political proximity will take place when there is a genuine spirit to help each other and to lift barriers from free economic exchange." Referring to his speech made at a previous CIS summit in Moscow, Nazarbaev said that back then, he had raised some vital issues such as the goals of the CIS, why they could not be met, and what should be done to get the organization going. Responding to a query as to why the CIS countries failed to have a common media service, President Nazarbaev accused the Russian media of playing a divisive and not a unifying role. "Allegations are hurled at member states from one side and all that goes without any response," said Nazarbaev pointing out that as early in 1996 he had proposed establishing a commission to settle this issue. It seems that there is still need to speak once again on that issue.

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, who spent two days with Nazarbayev in Almaty shortly before the Kishinau summit, also resorted to a similar tone when talking to the media, reminding them that during the last CIS meeting in Moscow, President Nazarbaev had voiced his disappointment that the CIS setup had fallen short of expectations and that it had yet to make any visible progress. "We are not dumping the structure," said Kuchma, adding that such a structure is required only on one condition: that it is working, productive, and not confined just to formal declarations. Kuchma publicly voiced his dissatisfaction over the practice where "within one structure there are several other structures." He added that at present there were two separate unions within the CIS namely the Belarus-Russian Union and secondly the Four Nation Union between Belarus, Russia, Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan. "I absolutely do not understand where we are heading while simultaneously working in different directions?" Illustrating his point, Kuchma said that when Ukraine needs to have trade with Kazakstan, it has to pass through a Custom Union within the CIS which places the interests of some members against others. He stressed the need to take into account the different economic, legal, and industrial structures that these states have. Kuchma pointed out that Europe needed fifty years to have an effective union while Central Eastern Europe required another ten to fifteen years. "How can we gather on one day to announce that we will have a union from the following day?," asked Kuchma.