Translated material
Chicken for training
GUAM will lay golden eggs instead of the CIS
Yesterday, post-Soviet leaders gathered in Kyiv for a two-day summit of the GUAM countries (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova), trying to agree on cooperation on issues of diversifying energy resources and strengthening their political independence. Today, at a meeting of presidents in the presence of envoys from Lithuania, Bulgaria, Poland and Romania, GUAM will be declared a full-fledged international organization aimed at promoting stability and security of member states. The headquarters of GUAM will be located in Kyiv.Judging by the schedule of yesterday's meetings of the summit participants, the GUAM states intend to expand interaction in literally all areas. At a meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of GUAM, they agreed on the charter and joint declaration of the organization, discussed the program of action until the end of 2006 and issues of cooperation with the United States. Meetings of the heads of border and customs departments, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the ministries of economics, energy, and security services also took place. A business council met in Kyiv with the participation of large businesses from the GUAM countries and representatives of chambers of commerce and industry.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili stated that within the framework of GUAM those tasks that were not solved in the CIS should be implemented. In particular, this concerns freedom of trade and movement. “One politician said that the CIS lays golden eggs,” said Saakashvili, but he himself still cannot understand whether “it is a chicken.” GUAM, where Ukraine will be the leader, will be more likely to solve the problems of post-Soviet countries than the conservative CIS, Saakashvili believes. Ukraine, as “the leading country in the post-Soviet space,” will be able to initiate the creation of a free trade zone within the framework of GUAM in response to Russia’s closure of its markets for Georgian and Ukrainian goods, the Georgian president believes.
However, Viktor Yushchenko believes that strengthening GUAM does not mean the need to dissolve the CIS, because the commonwealth coordinates a “system of interests” within the framework of the “club of countries of the former USSR.” He recalled that the volume of Russian-Ukrainian trade turnover is about $20 billion per year. GUAM will coordinate purely regional projects, “not as comprehensive as the CIS.” In addition, GUAM will help member states pursue a more coordinated policy on “frozen” conflicts, as well as coordinate integration processes “in the Euro-Atlantic direction.”
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed the opinion that the energy component will prevail in cooperation between the GUAM countries. “We are not talking about any new projects yet,” but the issue “is under study.” The summit “will give impetus to the development of ties” between post-Soviet countries both politically and economically, since “the field for cooperation is very wide,” Ilham Aliyev hopes.
“This summit is not dangerous for Russia, since it is not real, but rather a training summit,” Ukrainian political scientist Dmitry Vydrin told Vremya Novostey. According to him, “they are trying to train Ukraine for the role of a subregional leader in Eastern Europe, Georgia in the Transcaucasus.” According to the expert, it is very difficult to imagine an effective alliance of countries, “one of which is controlled by communists, the second by outsiders, the third by an authoritarian leader, and the fourth by democrats.” With such different systems of power, developing a common political line for the organization is practically impossible. “It is also unlikely that effective economic projects will be created within GUAM, since partner countries do not have such economic capabilities,” Mr. Vydrin noted to Vremya Novostey.