Cooperation within CIS

    In the Commonwealth of Independent States the Tariff Union has the best perspectives for the development within the integration process. Apart from the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation, the members of this union are the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan and the Republic of Tadjikistan. The creation of a single economic zone on the basis of this union is the major objective of the Republic's foreign and foreign economic policy. This goal is declared by the Treaty on the Tariff Union and Single Economic Zone concluded on 26 February 1999 in Moscow.
    On 10 October 2000 in Astana the leaders of the Tariff Union member-countries signed constituent instruments on the establishment of the Union-based Eurasian Economic Community. It means economic policy coordination in all of its aspects - monetary, financial, industrial and macroeconomic. It is peculiar that this new international organization will be based on the completely new approach to the process of decision-making within the Integration Committee the aim of which is to provide not only the effective coordination but the implementation of plans of each Community member as well.
    On 15 February 2001 6th session of the Intergovernmental working group of the Integration Committee of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Russia and Tadjikistan was held in the city of Almaty. The participants of the session considered about 11 documents regulating the Eurasian Economic Community activity. The real mechanism of its functioning has already been elaborated by now. It has been defined that each country would have its plenipotentiaries who would be working together - by turns in Almaty and Russia.
    In future the Eurasian Economic Community is meant to become a union with the help of which the economies of the EEC member-states would become integrated into the world economic system.
    A considerable role in the establishment of a single economic zone is assigned to social, scientific, technical and information aspects. The sorting out of these problems will naturally promote the rapprochement of the member-countries economies.
    In this context we should also bear in mind that the CIS resource potential is not less than that of the major economic coalitions of the modern world - North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or European Union. According to the estimates made by independent experts, the CIS accounts for 40 percent of world gas resources and is second to Saudi Arabia in oil reserves. The industrial potential of the CIS makes up 10 percent of the world potential and 25 percent of world natural resources.
    Despite the above-mentioned, the CIS plays a modest role on the international arena today. The political significance of the CIS will certainly always be adequate to its economic index. We should also bear in mind that the intensification of integration processes within the Commonwealth according to the principles of the European Union will inevitably demand the transfer of some powers to the supranational bodies. But today neither the CIS members that are usually ranked as "equidistant", nor the countries that are members of more solid economic and political units within the Commonwealth, for example the members of the "five" or GUUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Moldova) are not ready for that.
    Belarus abides by all the agreements concluded within the Commonwealth. All the domestic procedures connected with the establishment of a free trade zone are completed. The Republic of Belarus not only fulfils the assumed international obligations in full scale but also directs its efforts at making Minsk the CIS true capital - the political, economic and business center that would attract member-countries.
    It is not accidental and to a great extent symbolic that the last in the millenium CIS member-countries summit, the Heads-of-government sessions and the Council of Foreign Ministers meetings of the Commonwealth member-countries were held in Minsk.
    The participants of the Council of the CIS member-countries Foreign Ministers session (30 November 2000) thoroughly discussed and resolved a number of significant problems. The main issues considered by the participants dealt with military and technical cooperation within the Commonwealth of Independent States. All the CIS members supported the establishment of the CIS member-countries Anti-Terror center that has no analogies in the world.
    The Heads of Government of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tadjikistan signed the international agreement on non-visa entries for their citizens. This agreement signed instead of the similar one concluded in Bishkek in 1992 permits the citizens of the Eurasian Economic Community to travel in each other's country without any restrictions.
    The joint statement of the summit participants concerning the Chernobyl power plant closure, the appeal for world community support of Ukraine in its eagerness to fulfil the assumed obligations connected with Chernobyl power plant closure and support of the object "Ukrytije"("Shelter") transformation into the environmentally safe zone became topical issues considered by the participants.
    The national security of any country in modern world can't be achieved only with the help of its own resources. Therefore the Republic of Belarus gradually supports the development of military and political integration within the Collective Security Agreement of the CIS member-countries (Belarus, Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tadjikistan and Kyrgyzstan). Cooperation within the Collective Security Agreement is a high and all-encompassing level of political and military integration. It objectively reflects the recognized within the CIS principle of integration that is carried out with different speed and at various levels.
    The Collective Security Council session held in Minsk on 24 May 2000 laid the foundation of a completely new phase of the Agreement. First of all, it revealed the common political ground of the leaders of all Collective Security Agreement member-states not only in recognizing the CSA significance and topicality but also in realizing the necessity of intensification of political and military integration. It is mentioned in the special session statement that proclaimed the priority character of political and military relations among the Agreement member-states as compared to military relations and contacts with the third world countries that are not CSA members.
    As a result of efficient opinion exchange on the regular Collective Security Council session held in Bishkek on 11 October 2000 the Heads of the CSA member-states reached a number of interrelated decisions that determine the process of practical establishment of separate collective security components, as well as the establishment of its system as a whole in a detailed and objective way.
    It is particularly important that the CSA members-states have a quite justified understanding of the fact that their security is impossible without close cooperation with other functioning or appearing international organizations and structures of European and Asian security.
    The CSA member-countries have entered the 21st century with a real perspective of further strengthening of cooperation in providing sustainable development of the Agreement member-states and establishment of a wider security system in Eurasia. Under the circumstances the establishment of an efficient collective security system within the Commonwealth is a powerful determinant of the international role strengthening of both member-states and the CIS as a whole.
    There are reasons to suppose that the political will of the CIS leaders will become a deciding factor for the Commonwealth integration processes intensification. Centripetal tendencies have not yet become dominant. But there is stability that can become a benchmark of CIS modern history.
    The Republic of Belarus is interested in the preservation and development of all of the positive achievements of the Commonwealth peoples. At present the interests of Belarus, as well as the interests of other CIS member-states, are pragmatic. They are: the establishment of a functioning free trade zone of the CIS member-states necessary from the point of view of adequate market infrastructure establishment, transition to higher levels of economic cooperation and future development of a single economic area based on free displacement of goods, services, workforce and capital.
    The establishment of a functioning integrated commonwealth of ex-soviet republics with the maximal cooperation with the developing world poles of influence is the focus of Belarus policy today and its main objective in future.