DUSHANBE, February 5, 2009, Asia-Plus — By establishing the anti-crisis fund of $10 billion within the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC) and signing an agreement on formation of the rapid reaction force within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), member nations of these two regional organizations have gone down to practical cases, deputy director of the Center for Strategic Studies Sayfullo Safarov said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, these important moves show that period of crisis in relations between countries within the post-Soviet area is entering the phase of seeking constructive solutions to many problems.
“This integration is the result of the recent crisis in relations between the CIS states, when Georgia attacked South Ossetia in August 2008, natural-gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine, and recent chill that hit Tajik-Russian relations and so forth,” said the senior expert of Tajik think tank, “All these factors have urged Russia to initiate the integration process”
As far as the further integration of member nations of the EAEC and the CSTO is concerned, expansion of cooperation between them depends on Russia, which acts as the main integrating force, Safarov said.
“If member states of these two organizations have respect for national interests of each other and assist each other, this upward tendency in cooperation between them will continue,” said the expert, “Otherwise, all systems of security and economic cooperation created within the post-Soviet area will be destroyed.”
