Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Ukraine, Kazakhstan & Belarus: prospects of unification with Russia

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Ukraine, Kazakhstan & Belarus: prospects of unification with Russia

    Agency WPS
    What the Papers Say. Part B (Russia)
    September 16, 2004, Thursday

    UKRAINE, KAZAKHSTAN, AND BELARUS: PROSPECTS OF UNIFICATION WITH
    RUSSIA

    SOURCE: Gazeta, September 16, 2004, pp. 1-2

    by Pavel Aptekar

    Addressing a summit of the Eurasian Economic Community in Astana,
    Kazakhstan three months ago, President Vladimir Putin said, "Wise
    people of all countries, unite."


    "Chauvinism, nationalism, personal ambitions of political
    decision-makers, and simple, primitive stupidity" interfere with
    integration, Putin said. He avoided any sharp statements at the
    United Economic Zone summit yesterday (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and
    Kazakhstan) even though the signing of the necessary documents has
    been postponed by at least a year. Putin merely reminded CIS leaders
    that establishment of the united Economic Zone could bring living
    standards in the involved countries up to the European level.
    Observers have many more hopes for Putin's meetings with presidents
    of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the authorities of Georgia.

    The political establishment of the CIS gathered in Astana yesterday.
    National leaders joined prime ministers and foreign ministers. Only
    Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan and President Vladimir Voronin of
    Moldova were absent. Today's agenda for the CIS summit has been
    revised: given the latest events in Russia, the summit will be
    centered around the problem of terrorism.

    Predictably enough, Putin, Leonid Kuchma, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and
    Alexander Lukashenko postponed the decision to establish of the
    United Economic Zone until July 1, 2005.

    All the same, summit participants are quite optimistic. Kuchma is
    convinced that the future United Economic Zone should become a center
    of attraction for neighboring countries. "We have everything we need
    for it," said president of Ukraine. "Political stability alone is
    needed."

    "A common financial system will be installed and operational 10 to 12
    years from now," Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan promised.

    President Lukashenko of Belarus hopes that the common financial
    system will be working even earlier than that, "God (or Allah)
    willing."

    Still, Putin painted a particularly rosy picture. "Surpassing the
    level of the average citizen of Europe in the sufficiently
    foreseeable future is quite within grasp," Putin said.

    The negotiating parties agreed on some new integration initiatives.
    Putin, Kuchma, Nazarbayev, and Lukashenko intend to ease border
    crossing procedures for citizens of the countries comprising the
    United Economic Zone and instructed their governments to draft
    appropriate documents. There is no saying at this point how the
    future accord will concur with the recent decree of the president of
    Russia on the war on terrorism. The decree demands tighter procedures
    of border crossing for citizens of CIS countries.

    Nazarbayev's idea of a space corporation was approved in Astana.
    Governments of the four countries comprising the United Economic Zone
    have before December 15 to formulate their proposals. Construction of
    the Clipper, a manned shuttle, is to become the ultimate objective of
    the corporation. With a crew of six, the Clipper is expected to
    replace the Soyuz rocket family. Its design by the Energy Corporation
    will be Russia's contribution. Kuchma says that the Design Bureau
    Yuzhnoye and Yuzhmash factory will probably represent Ukraine in the
    future corporation. Kazakhstan will provide the Baikonur, and Belarus
    its "unique capacities in the sphere of optics."

    "This is going to be the first project leading to new ones in the
    sphere of high-tech industry," Nazarbayev said. Kuchma was more to
    the point. "What we need is unification of specific capacities" to
    enable the United Economic Zone to compete with the West in the
    high-tech sphere, he said. Lukashenko was worried by the problem of
    commercial competition too. "There are very many states in the World
    Trade Organization whose goods are better than our counterparts in
    quality and price," he announced.

    Actually, some lingering discord among participants in the future
    United Economic Zone was undeniable. With a glance in Kuchma's
    direction, Lukashenko mentioned "a lack of political will" and added,
    "If some country, say, Ukraine or Russia, joined the World Trade
    Organization before the rest do, we can forget about the United
    Economic Zone."

    Later that evening, Putin met with presidents of Azerbaijan and
    Armenia Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharjan. Before that, Aliyev and
    Kocharjan had a private conversation. Some experts tentatively assume
    that the talks in Astana may provide a turning point in
    Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. A lot of hopes are also placed on
    Putin's talks with President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia.

    Translated by A. Ignatkin
Working...
X