PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF BELARUS

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF BELARUS

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) should be dedicated to economic, social and strategic cooperation among former Soviet republics and not merely a mechanism for their "civilized divorce", Permanent Representative of Belarus Alyaksandr Sychou said this morning, in a press conference at Headquarters.

Although the Commonwealth was undergoing a difficult period in its development, the current crisis was not inevitable, he said. It was caused mainly by the fact that not all leaders of the former Soviet republics were interested in establishing the CIS as an effective inter-State association. Some member States had not sought to achieve the Commonwealth's aims -- which included the creation of joint economic and customs areas, a common military- strategic area under joint command, and unified transportation and communications systems.

The Commonwealth's leaders should agree on measures that would enable it to become an effective regional economic association, he said. "If this is not done and the CIS continues its business as usual, the existence of the Commonwealth itself would be shortly called into question."

There was no turning back to the single centre of power that existed under the Soviet system, he said. The Commonwealth's main task was to establish unified political, economic and social standards that met the post- Soviet needs of its members. It must also ensure that all its citizens were granted equal and broad rights in the areas of civil services, education, health, employment and property ownership.

The Council of CIS Foreign Ministers should become more active in coordinating positions on the most pressing foreign affairs issues, he said. Currently, all CIS countries were preparing to join the World Trade Organization, a move which would require the coordination of policy. More task-oriented activity was also required from the CIS Inter-State Economic Committee. That body should consider such measures as the creation of industrial and financial groups, the elaboration and implementation of joint projects, and the formulation of common approaches to taxation.

Mr. Sychou also suggested strengthening the CIS Economic Court in order to ensure that members fulfilled their obligations. To improve the Commonwealth's effectiveness, Belarus had proposed the creation of a CIS centre for strategic research, which would utilize the efforts of the non- governmental organizations. It was also proposed that the CIS reorganize the structure of its secretariat to make it more effective.

Although the future of the CIS depended on the good will of all its member States, the Russian Federation played a particularly important role and bore a large amount of responsibility in its development, he said. Russia should become a respected leader in that process.

A correspondent asked what was meant by Russia having a particular responsibility for improving the CIS. Mr. Sychou said Russia was the Chairman of the CIS, which was an influential position. Belarus hoped that Russia could activate its role as Chairman and propose some concrete measures for strengthening CIS activities, especially in the economic sphere.

Mr. Sychou was also asked which leaders within the Commonwealth were interested in the problems he had described. He said there were some countries which would like to activate the role of the CIS in all spheres, and some which would not. Along with Belarus, countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan would like to strengthen cooperation between member States. However, there were some countries which would not like to speed up that process, such as Ukraine. Despite being a founder of the Commonwealth, Ukraine had not ratified the CIS charter.

Other than Ukraine, some republics from the Asian and Caucasus region did not support CIS efforts for economic integration, he went on to say. While every republic within the former Soviet Union was interested in economic relations, they had different approaches to the process of integration. The CIS countries needed time to reach a consensus on that issue.

A correspondent asked if the Commonwealth's increased effectiveness would attract those republics, such as Ukraine, which were reluctant to take part in economic integration. Mr. Sychou said it was evident that CIS members needed economic cooperation and that Ukraine would reconsider its position on that matter at a later stage.

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