Saakashvili Comments on CIS

President Mikheil Saakashvili said while speaking at a news conference in Kazan on August 27 that Georgia does not think the possibilities of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) ?have been exhausted,? adding that Georgia?s withdrawal from the CIS is not on the agenda, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

?But the CIS has problems which need to be solved. It is possible to turn [the CIS] into a more influential body. But what we currently have should be utilized,? said Saakashvili, who participated in the summit of SIC leaders in Kazan on August 26.

He also denied speculation that deepening of bilateral ties between Georgia and Ukraine is a precondition to create an alternative to the CIS. ?This will not replace the CIS. Georgia?s withdrawal from the CIS is not on the agenda,? he added.

Saakashvili said that the Borjomi Declaration signed by the leaders of Georgia and Ukraine on August 12 expresses the aspiration of Georgia and Ukraine to ?democratic choice.?

?Claims that Russia is being besieged ‘cordoned off’ belong to not very clever people. The declaration with Kiev is an attempt to create a consultation mechanism for democratic states. We exchange our experience of democratic reforms with Ukraine,? Mikheil Saakashvili said.

At the news conference Saakashvili also informed about the decision of Turkmenistan to withdraw from the CIS and maintain only ?associate membership? in the organization. ?This is the first precedent in the history of the CIS,? Saakashvili said.

The Russian daily Kommersant described Turkmenistan?s decision as ?the beginning of the CIS?s collapse.? The newspaper says that surprisingly the process of collapse was launched not by ?revolutionary Mikheil Saakashvili and Victor Yushchenko,? the President of Ukraine, but by the leader of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov.

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