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CENTRAL ASIAN COOPERATION ORGANIZATION (CACO)

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Participants: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia (joined on October 18, 2004)
Background

The Treaty on the Establishment of the Central Asian Cooperation Organization (CACO) was signed on February 28, 2002 in the city of Almaty (Kazakhstan). The CACO succeeded the Central Asian Economic Community (CAEC) created in 1994. The CACO included Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

On October 5, 2002 at the Dushanbe Summit (Tajikistan) the CACO member-sates decided to revise the documents on the Central Asian integration (243 pieces) that had been adopted earlier.

At the Astana Summit held on December 27, 2002 in Kazakhstan the heads of the member states of the CACO confirmed that the CACO project met the strategic interests of their countries. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed to create the common economic space within the CACO.

The next CACO Summit was held on July 5-6, 2003 in Almaty (Kazakhstan). Kazakhstan took the chair of the Central Asian Cooperation Organization. The heads of the CACO member states made a decision to create a number of consortia within the CACO: the water and energy consortium, the food and the communication consortia. They were designed to solve existing economic and borderland problems in order to provide extra incentives for further integration. The Organization appealed to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for the assistance in working out consortia project.

In February 2004 the Parliament of Kazakhstan was the first of the Central Asian countries to ratify the Treaty on the Establishment of the Central Asian Cooperation Organization (CACO). The process of ratification of the Treaty by the other CACO participants is still in process.

In October 2004 the next CACO Summit was held in (Tajikistan). Tajikistan took the chair of the Organization. At this Summit Russia joined the CACO. According to Moscow officials this decision was conditioned by the strategic importance of the region for Russian’s national security.

Analyzing the integration processes in the Central Asia the experts note that the CACO countries were not very successful in the economic integration. Besides, the CACO as many other integration entities on the territory of the former USSR is characterized by the amorphous institutional design. The important factor that hinders the integration is the existing frontier problems and the conflicts concerning the use of the region’s water resources.

On October 7, 2005 at the CACO summit held in St.-Petersburg there was taken a decision to merge the Central Asian Cooperation Organization (CACO) with the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC).

Major Objectives

The participants of the CACO set themselves the following targets:

  • providing all the necessary preconditions for the effective cooperation in the political, economic, environmental, cultural, scientific and technical spheres
  • creation of the system of mutual support in preventing the threat to independence and sovereignty, the territorial integrity of the CACO countries

Besides, the CACO countries made a commitment to cooperate in their fight against regional and transnational crimes including illicit drug trafficking, illegal migration and terrorism.

Documents
  • Treaty between the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan on the Establishment of the Central Asian Cooperation Organization (signed on February 28, 2002 in the city of Almaty)
  • The Regulations on the Committee of National Coordinators of the Central Asian Cooperation Organization
Managing Bodies

The Managing Bodies of the Central Asian Cooperation Organization (CACO) are:

  • The Council of Heads of State and Prime-MinistersThe Councils of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the Heads of Ministries and Governmental Agencies
  • The Committee of National Coordinators
  • The Council of Heads of State and Prime Ministers determines the strategy, tendencies and future prospects of the integration within the CACO

The Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs considers the issues of current activity of the CACO. It also holds the consultations within the Organization for International Issues.

The Committee of National Coordinators is responsible for the member states’ rapprochement on the issues of the cooperation strengthening and the integration deepening. It prepares proposals for discussion in the Council of Heads of State and Prime-Ministers and the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs. It also supervises the implementation of the CACO resolutions and solves organizational problems of CACO bodies. The Committee of National Coordinators is accountable to the Council of the Heads of State and Prime-Ministers.

The CACO has a permanent consultation body of the heads of security services, which contributes to cooperation in the fight against extremism and terrorism in the region.

 


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