The organization was founded on 8 December 1991 by the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine, when the leaders of the three countries met in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Natural Reserve, about 50 km (30 miles) north of Brest in Belarus and signed a Creation Agreement (Russian: Соглашение, Soglasheniye) on the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the creation of CIS as a successor entity to the USSR.[4] At the same time they announced that the new alliance would be open to all republics of the former Soviet Union, as well as other nations sharing the same goals. The CIS charter stated that all the members were sovereign and independent nations and thereby effectively abolished the Soviet Union.
On 21 December 1991, the leaders of eight additional Soviet Republics – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan – agreed to join the CIS, thus bringing the number of participating countries to 11.[5] Georgia joined two years later, in December 1993.[6] As of that time, 12 of the 15 former Soviet Republics participated in the CIS. Three former Soviet Republics, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, chose not to join.
In March 2007, Igor Ivanov, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, expressed his doubts concerning the usefulness of CIS, and emphasizing that the Eurasian Economic Community became a more competent organization to unify the biggest countries of the CIS.[7] In May 2009 the six countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine joined the Eastern Partnership, a project which was initiated by the European Union (EU).
[edit] Military structures
When Boris Yeltsin became Russian Defence Minister on 7 May 1992, Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, the man appointed as Commander-in-Chief of the CIS Armed Forces, and his staff, were ejected from the MOD and General Staff buildings and given offices in the former Warsaw Pact Headquarters at 41 Leningradsky Prospekt[8] on the northern outskirts of Moscow.[9] Shaposhnikov resigned in June 1993.
In December 1993, the CIS Armed Forces Headquarters was abolished.[10] Instead, 'the CIS Council of Defence Ministers created a CIS Military Cooperation Coordination Headquarters (MCCH) in Moscow, with 50 per cent of the funding provided by Russia.'[11] General Viktor Samsonov was appointed as Chief of Staff.
[edit] Membership status of CIS countries
See also: Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations, GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development, and TRACECA
The Creation Agreement remained the main constituent document of the CIS until January 1993, when the CIS Charter (Russian: Устав, Ustav) was adopted.[12] The charter formalized the concept of membership: a member country is defined as a country that ratifies the CIS Charter (sec. 2, art. 7). Turkmenistan has not ratified the charter and changed its CIS standing to associate member as of 26 August 2005 in order to be consistent with its UN-recognized international neutrality status.[13][14] Although Ukraine was one of the three founding countries and ratified the Creation Agreement in December 1991, Ukraine did not choose to ratify the CIS Charter and is not a member of the CIS.[6][15]
Country Signed Ratified Charter ratified Membership Status
Armenia 21 December 1991 18 February 1992 16 March 1994 official member
Azerbaijan 21 December 1991 24 September 1993 14 December 1993 official member
Belarus 8 December 1991 10 December 1991 18 January 1994 official member
Kazakhstan 21 December 1991 23 December 1991 20 April 1994 official member
Kyrgyzstan 21 December 1991 6 March 1992 12 April 1994 official member
Moldova 21 December 1991 8 April 1994 27 June 1994 official member
Russia 8 December 1991 12 December 1991 20 July 1993 official member
Tajikistan 21 December 1991 26 June 1993 4 August 1993 official member
Turkmenistan 21 December 1991 26 December 1991 Not ratified unofficial associate member
Ukraine 8 December 1991 10 December 1991 Not ratified de facto participating; officially not a member
Uzbekistan 21 December 1991 1 April 1992 9 February 1994 official member
Between the years of 2003 and 2005, three CIS member states experienced a change of government in a series of colour revolutions: Eduard Shevardnadze was overthrown in Georgia, Viktor Yushchenko was elected in Ukraine, and, lastly, Askar Akayev was toppled in Kyrgyzstan. In February 2006, Georgia officially withdrew from the Council of Defense Ministers, with the statement that "Georgia has taken a course to join NATO and it cannot be part of two military structures simultaneously",[16][17] but it remained a full member of the CIS until August 2009, one year after officially withdrawing in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 South Ossetia war.
[edit] Former members
Country Signed Ratified Charter ratified Withdrawn Effective
Georgia — 3 December 1993 19 April 1994 18 August 2008 17 August 2009
Following the South Ossetian war in 2008, President Saakashvili announced during a public speech in the capital city Tbilisi that Georgia would leave the CIS[18] and the Georgian Parliament voted unanimously (on 14 August 2008) to withdraw from the regional organization.[19] On 18 August 2008 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia sent a note to the CIS Executive Committee notifying it of the aforesaid resolutions of the Parliament of Georgia and Georgia’s withdrawal from CIS.[20] In accordance with the CIS Charter (sec. 1, art. 9),[12] Georgia's withdrawal came into effect 12 months later, on 18 August 2009.[21][22]
[edit] Executive Secretaries of CIS
Meeting of CIS leaders in Bishkek in 2008Name Country Term
Ivan Korotchenya Belarus 26 December 1991 - 29 April 1998
Boris Berezovsky Russia 29 April 1998 - 4 March 1999
Ivan Korotchenya (acting) Belarus 4 March - 2 April 1999
Yury Yarov Russia 2 April 1999 - 14 June 2004
Vladimir Rushailo Russia 14 June 2004 - 5 October 2007
Sergei Lebedev Russia since 5 October 2007
[edit] Recent events
Following the withdrawal of Georgia, the presidents of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan skipped the October 2009 meeting of the CIS.[23]
[edit] Free trade area (CISFTA)
In 1994, CIS countries agreed to create free trade area, but all agreements were never signed, so in 2009 a new agreement was achieved to create FTA by end of 2010 or beginning of 2011.[24]
[edit] Eurasian Economic Community
Main article: Eurasian Economic Community
The Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC or EAEC) originated from a customs union between Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan on the 29 March 1996.[25] It was named EEC on 10 October 2000[26] when Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan signed the treaty. EurAsEC was formally created when the treaty was finally ratified by all five member states in May 2001. Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine hold observer status. EurAsEC is working on establishing a common energy market and exploring the more efficient use of water in central Asia.
[edit] Organization of Central Asian Cooperation
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan formed the OCAC in 1991 as Central Asian Commonwealth (CAC). The organization continued in 1994 as Central Asian Economic Union (CAEU), in which Tajikistan and Turkmenistan did not participate. In 1998 it became Central Asian Economic Cooperation (CAEC), which marked the return of Tajikistan. On 28 February 2002 it was renamed to its current name. Russia joined on 28 May 2004.[27] On 7 October 2005 it was decided between the member states that Uzbekistan will join[28] the Eurasian Economic Community and that the organizations will merge.[29] The organizations joined on 25 January 2006. It is not clear what will happen to the status of current CACO observers that are not observers to EurAsEC (Georgia and Turkey).
[edit] Common Economic Space
After discussion about the creation of a common economic space between the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, agreement in principle about the creation of this space was announced after a meeting in the Moscow suburb of Novo-Ogarevo on 23 February 2003. The Common Economic Space would involve a supranational commission on trade and tariffs that would be based in Kiev, would initially be headed by a representative of Kazakhstan, and would not be subordinate to the governments of the four nations. The ultimate goal would be a regional organisation that would be open for other countries to join as well, and could eventually lead even to a single currency.
On 22 May 2003 The Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) voted 266 votes in favour and 51 against the joint economic space. However, most believe that Viktor Yushchenko's victory in the Ukrainian presidential election of 2004 was a significant blow against the project: Yushchenko has shown renewed interest in Ukrainian membership in the European Union, and such membership would be incompatible with the envisioned common economic space. Yushchenko's successor Viktor Yanukovych stated on April 27, 2010 "Ukraine's entry into the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan is not possible today, since the economic principles and the laws of the WTO do not allow it, we develop our policy in accordance with WTO principles".[30] Ukraine is a WTO member.[30]
A single market for the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia is envisioned for 2012.[31] Previously it was reported for 2010, but obviously that reference was to the customs union and not the common market.[32]
[edit] Economic data
EAEC members
GUAM members
Other CIS membersThe data is taken from the UN Statistics Division.
Country Population (2007) GDP 2006 (USD) GDP 2007 (USD) growth (2007) per capita (2007)
Belarus 9,724,163 36,961,815,474 45,275,738,770 8.6% 4,656
Kazakhstan 15,408,161 81,003,864,916 104,849,915,344 8.7% 6,805
Kyrgyzstan 5,346,111 2,834,168,893 3,802,570,572 8.5% 711
Russia 141,941,200 989,427,936,676 1,294,381,844,081 8.1% 9,119
Tajikistan 6,727,377 2,142,328,846 2,265,340,888 3.0% 337
Uzbekistan 26,900,365 17,077,480,575 22,355,214,805 9.5% 831
EAEC total 207,033,990 1,125,634,333,117 1,465,256,182,498 30.17% 7,077
Azerbaijan 8,631,512 20,981,929,498 33,049,426,816 25.1% 3,829
Georgia 4,357,857 7,745,249,284 10,172,920,422 12.3% 2,334
Moldova 3,667,469 3,408,283,313 4,401,137,824 3.0% 1,200
Ukraine 46,289,475 107,753,069,307 142,719,009,901 7.9% 3,083
GUAM total 62,861,573 139,888,538,550 186,996,463,870 33.68% 2,975
Armenia 3,072,450 6,384,452,551 9,204,496,419 13.8% 2,996
Turkmenistan 4,977,386 6,928,560,446 7,940,143,236 11.6% 1,595
Grand total 277,863,109 1,278,421,583,732 1,668,683,151,661 30.53% 6,005
By Feroz Nikzad
KHOST NEWS
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