BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/11/2006

All Eyes on Minsk and Riga

Civil Georgia

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is in Minsk, Belarus on November 28 to participate in the summit of leaders from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

In Minsk Saakashvili will seek face-to-face talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but Russian leader's aide Modest Kolerov told Tbilisi-based Mze TV on November 27 that there will be "no separate meeting."

"I want everybody to understand the motivation with which the Georgian delegation leaves for Minsk. We understand that the Commonwealth of Independent States is very ineffective, but Georgia has no right to ignore any rostrum," President Saakashvili said late on November 27.

He said that he wants to meet with Putin and added that the bilateral meeting will be a "positive" sign.

"But we also have to develop bilateral ties with other CIS member states: I am going to meet with other CIS leaders, who are our important partners," Saakashvili said.

In Minsk, Saakashvili is expected to meet with his Kazakh and Azeri counterparts.

Saakashvili's statement on the eve of his departure to Minsk was a kind of response to some opposition politicians' calls to ignore the CIS summit and announce Georgia's withdrawal from the organization.

Officials in Tbilisi say that although the CIS is "ineffective," now is not the best time to pullout from the organization.

Giorgi Baramidze, the Georgian Vice-Premier and State Minister in charge of Euro-Atlantic integration issues, said on November 27 that the outcome of the Minsk summit should be positive for Tbilisi whether or not Putin agrees to hold bilateral talks with Saakashvili.

Baramidze, who participated in a summit of CIS heads of government in Minsk on November 24, said Georgia should use every opportunity to show to the international community that it is ready for a dialogue with Russia.

"It will be negative for Putin himself if he declines Tbilisi's proposal for a bilateral meeting," Baramidze told Imedi TV's political talk-show on November 27.

Georgia may not be alone in its tensions with Russia at the CIS summit. Belarus leader Aleksander Lukashenko is unhappy with Russia's energy policy, which most likely will lead to a price hike on gas. And Kazakhstan, as one of the region's major gas suppliers, also wants to have more say in decision-making within the CIS.

The strengthening of CIS effectiveness will top the CIS summit agenda. Cooperation between member states in fighting human trafficking and illegal migration is also expected to be discussed at the summit.

Meanwhile, Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze is in Riga, Latvia where a two-day NATO summit was opened on November 28.

On November 27, Latvian Defense Minister Atis Slakteris hosted Burjanadze in a sign to demonstrate Latvia's support to Georgia's NATO aspirations. Talks between Burjanadze and Slakteris also involved U.S. Senator Richard J. Lugar, who has sponsored U.S. Senate resolution calling for "the timely admission" of Albania, Croatia, Georgia and Macedonia to NATO.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said at a news conference in Riga on November 27 that the Riga summit is expected to signal some important messages towards Georgia, including "full respect" for Georgia's territorial integrity, a call for the peaceful resolution of conflicts and reaffirmation of NATO's readiness to help Georgia's reforms in frames of Intensified Dialogue.

"That is the message I expect from this summit. How it will exactly be worded I do not know yet, because the summit is not over yet. But those are, as far as I am concerned, the basic principles and I think they are important principles," Scheffer said.

The two events - the NATO summit in Riga and CIS summit in Minsk - have topped the Georgian media's agenda in recent days.

"I think the CIS summit is something that soon will be associated with our past and the summit in Riga is associated with the future of Georgia," Shalva Pichkhadze, an analyst from the Georgia For NATO non-governmental organization, said on November 28.

Source:

http://www.civil.ge/eng/detail.php?id=14193