'CIS page is turned' for Georgia, official says
By Sabina Idayatova
Georgia's State Minister for Reintegration Paata Zakareishvili rules out the pro-Western country's return to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and calls this topic a "turned page" for Tbilisi, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.
"Georgia has already turned the CIS page," Zakareishvili said. According to the minister, Russia recognized the independence of rebel Abkhazia and South Ossetia when Georgia was part of the CIS, therefore, "there is no argument" for rejoining the bloc of ex-Soviet states.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during a meeting held in Minsk on Tuesday with the members of the Club of Editors of the CIS and Baltic countries and Georgia that he would make every effort to return Georgia to the CIS and was ready "to kneel to the Georgian leadership for this".
"From January 1, Belarus will chair the CIS. We are waiting for you," Lukashenko told journalists. "I'll ask you to return to the CIS as a first step."
"You will not lose anything. And Russia will be the first who favors it. You should get back. And there we will find the solution of all problems. Of course, if the Georgian politicians would like it," Lukashenko said at the meeting, which was held on the sidelines of the Forum of European and Asian Media (FEAM).
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili stated Georgia's withdrawal from the CIS after the armed conflict in South Ossetia in August 2008. On August 14, 2008 the Georgian parliament voted almost unanimously in favor of quitting this international organization.
On August 18, 2008 the Georgian Foreign Ministry sent a note to
the CIS Executive Committee notifying it of Georgia's
withdrawal.
Georgia joined the Commonwealth in December 1993. In August 2009,
it withdrew from the organization. However, the South Caucasus
republic remains party to more than 70 international agreements
adopted within the framework of the CIS.
CIS is a loose association of former Soviet republics except Baltic states and Georgia, aimed at coordination of efforts among its members in the realm of developing trade, finance, lawmaking, and security, as well as crime prevention. The organization was founded in December 1991 by the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine, when their leaders met outside Brest in Belarus and signed an agreement on the dissolution of the USSR and the creation of CIS as a successor entity.