AZE.US
The Commonwealth of Independent States is steadily losing the political and economic functions it was originally created to perform, Azerbaijani political analyst Ilgar Velizade said.
Velizade, who heads the South Caucasus Political Scientists Club, made the remarks during an appearance on the Daily Europe Online YouTube channel.
He was responding to a question about earlier discussions over whether Azerbaijan could eventually leave the CIS amid tensions in its relations with Russia.
According to Velizade, the issue remains a long-term political question, but by the time Baku is required to make a formal decision, the organization itself may have lost much of its relevance.
“The CIS is losing its original functions, while the system of relations within the organization is being restructured,” he said.
Velizade argued that countries across the former Soviet space are increasingly building direct bilateral and regional relationships rather than relying on the institutional mechanisms of the CIS.
In the past, the organization served as a framework for political and economic communication among former Soviet republics. Today, however, governments can negotiate directly and create separate agreements covering trade, labor migration, transportation and strategic cooperation.
Velizade cited Uzbekistan’s expanding relationships with Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan and Georgia as examples of that trend.
When countries already have direct agreements regulating migration, employment and economic cooperation, he said, the need for a broader CIS framework becomes less clear.
A growing network of bilateral strategic partnerships is therefore making the preservation of the CIS as a separate institution less important, Velizade said.
“Over time, these discussions will probably fade because the CIS itself will fade,” he added.
Debate over Azerbaijan’s possible withdrawal from the organization intensified during periods of tension between Baku and Moscow. The subject has largely disappeared from Azerbaijan’s public agenda in recent months, but Velizade said that does not necessarily mean the underlying question has been permanently resolved.
AZE.US