Inter-parliamentary conference in Kyiv promotes integration (06/20/99)

Inter-parliamentary conference in Kyiv promotes integration

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Continuing to strive for deeper relations and to convince Ukraine to join a larger political union, parliamentary leaders representing the leftist political forces of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine gathered in Kyiv on June 10-11 to discuss economic integration.

Most of the Communist and Socialist leadership of the three countries was here for what was, in effect, an extended leftist political congress. Speakers glorified the accomplishments of the Soviet Union and called for re-establishing the geopolitical clout that it carried - even as they agreed that little hope exists for a return to the now disassembled Soviet state.

Officially, the topic of the inter-parliamentary conference, called "Belarus, Russia, Ukraine: Experiences and Problems of Integration," was joining the economies of the three neighboring countries, which made up the largest share of the economic strength of the Soviet Union. However, talk of the possibility of Ukraine entering the Belarus-Russia political union, which Yugoslavia recently asked to join, flowed as freely as the vodka.

The chairman of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada, Oleksander Tkachenko, who organized and hosted the conference, downplayed any talk of political union for Ukraine, although in the past he has expressed support for such a move. In his keynote opening address he said that today the three countries must accept their separation. "We were once one. We remember that well. Today let us genuinely learn independence and cooperation," said Mr. Tkachenko.

However, the Ukrainian Parliament chairman continuously made tacit references to Slavic unity and brotherhood.

At one point in his speech, he said, "Our earlier experience supports the fact that Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians were and will continue to be brothers." Then, while referring to the need to form a synchronized economy similar to what has developed in the European Union, he said, "And we also lived on friendlier terms, better, more peacefully within the framework of the Soviet Union."

Other speakers and attendees were less nuanced in their call for Ukraine to join the Slavic union. The chairman of the Russian State Duma, Gennadii Selezniov, just off the plane from Moscow, said, "We would like for Ukraine to join the union of Belarus and Russia."

Meanwhile Yegor Stroyev, Mr. Selezniov's counterpart in the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, said Ukraine should not fear either political or economic integration. "Russia sees no contradiction between integration of states and preservation of their sovereignty," he explained during his speech before the inter-parliamentary conference.

At a panel on the prospects of such a union, Belarusian and Russian deputies took turns calling on Ukraine to join them. Russian State Duma Deputy Telman Gdlyan called on Ukrainians to begin a petition-signing campaign for a national referendum on joining the Russia-Belarus union, which he said would easily get between 10 million and 15 million signatures.

Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada National Deputy Georgy Kriuchkov (Communist faction) explained that sociological polls show a majority of Ukrainians want to join the union.

Even though the issue of political integration was a major sideshow, the economies of the three countries and how they could better work together did manage to remain at center stage.

Both Mr. Tkachenko and Mr. Stroyev asked that the three Parliaments start building the legal and normative base for economic integration, which they described as a painstaking and tedious, but unavoidable process.

Mr. Tkachenko said that Belarus, Russia and Ukraine must begin by deepening economic and trade ties, especially among separate regions, industries and worker's collectives. He called for the formation of transnational financial-industrial groups and the establishment of international free-trade zones, parallel tax systems and common customs regulations.

The starting points for the economic integration that the leftist-dominated Parliaments of the three countries are calling for are the economic and political treaties signed among them in the last several years, noted Mr. Tkachenko. He identified the Ukraine-Russia Treaty on Economic Cooperation: 1998-2007; the treaty signed by Belarus and Ukraine on economic cooperation for the years 1999-2008; and Ukraine's accession to the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The inter-parliamentary conference issued two documents at the close of its session. One called on the executive branches of all three countries to outline a joint program to develop similar laws and programs in taxation, transport tariffs, price formation, customs regulation, the fight against organized crime and corruption, and capital flight abroad. They demanded the development of a mechanism for the settlement of mutual accounts among companies and organizations, and called for more joint social and cultural programs.

In their summation document the conferees, also called for the three governments to explore the possibility of creating an interstate leasing fund for farm machinery and developing an interstate program on sugar and vegetable oil. They recommended the establishment of an interstate database of laws and legal acts.

Much controversy surrounded the location that Mr. Tkachenko chose for the inter-parliamentary conference. Originally, it had been scheduled for the city of Chernihiv, but several days prior to the arrival of the delegates, the conference location was moved to the Verkhovna Rada building in Kyiv. Although Oleksander Kolinko, head of the Verkhovna Rada press office, explained that the move was made because of a shortage of hotel rooms for the hundreds of delegates and their support staffs, Ukraine's center and right-wing political factions criticized Mr. Tkachenko, a declared presidential candidate, for moving the venue to give himself a bigger soapbox.

The Reform and Order Party issued a statement on June 10 in which it stated that: "The conference, which originally was to take place on April 23-24 in Chernihiv and was to be a routine interstate conference in the realm of the CIS, today has developed into a propagandistic advertisement in connection with the presidential candidacy of Oleksander Tkachenko."

National Deputy Ivan Zayets (Rukh-Chornovil faction) blasted Mr. Tkachenko for using the session hall of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada "to pursue unconstitutional and treasonous aims," while National Deputy Yurii Kostenko (Rukh-Kostenko) questioned the legitimacy of an inter-parliamentary conference not officially sanctioned by the Verkhovna Rada.

Another national deputy suggested on national television that Mr. Tkachenko had fooled the national deputies the week before the event when he unexpectedly but successfully moved to have the week of the conference designated as a week of committee work for Ukraine's parliamentarians. That decision freed the session hall for the conference.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Borys Tarasyuk called the conference "an attempt to return to the past." His criticism was in stark contrast to that of his boss, President Leonid Kuchma, who hosted a reception for the delegates at the Mariinsky Palace and met privately with several leaders of the conference, including Russian State Duma Chairman Selezniov and Federation Council President Stroyev.

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