FAIT Committee News Release

STANDING COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Ottawa, May 4, 2000 - As the centrepiece of their study on how to advance Canadian foreign policy interests in the strategic regions of the South Caucasus and Central Asia, two small groups of government and opposition MPs from the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade will hold high-level meetings in the regions from 6-16 May.

One group of four MPs will focus on the countries of the South Caucasus, visiting Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as neighbouring Turkey; the other will focus on the countries of Central Asia, visiting Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan. In addition to holding meetings with their parliamentary counterparts, multilateral organizations such as the OSCE, Canadian businesses, non-governmental representatives and others, the Canadian MPs are scheduled to meet with the Heads of State in several of the countries. Following their return to Canada, the Committee will prepare and table a report with recommendations for Canadian government policy.

In the decade since the collapse of the Soviet Union, relatively little international attention has been paid to the eight newly independent states of the former Soviet South: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the South Caucasus, and Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia. Interest has increased recently, however, mainly as a result of the presence of large oil and gas reserves in the Caspian Sea which lies between the two regions, and the resulting geo-political struggle for influence and access to these resources.

The Committee began its study with a series of panels in April and early May, hearing from government officials, private sector representatives, academics and NGOs interested in and knowledgeable about the principal issues at stake in developing relations with the South Caucasus and Central Asia. Witnesses agreed that Canada's limited visibility in these regions of growing significance was harming its economic and other foreign policy interests, and that the Committee study trips would raise Canada's profile significantly. As Minister of Foreign Affairs Lloyd Axworthy noted in a letter to the Chair of the Committee, Liberal MP Bill Graham, "Interest in this region…is on the rise. As Canadian interest in, and attention to, this area intensifies, we need to ensure that our policies and programs keep pace with the evolving situation. The work of the Committee will be extremely important in putting the region and its emerging possibilities into a Canadian context."

The challenge for the study and the report to be tabled in the fall is twofold: first, to assess the current situation in these regions in terms of political stability and security, economic development and transition, and democratization, human rights and good governance; second, to determine the best means for promoting Canadian foreign policy interests in the area and make appropriate recommendations to the Government of Canada in that regard.

According to Committee Chair Bill Graham, "This is an area of the world that is growing in importance. Our aim is to make sure that, in developing stronger relations with these states, the Government of Canada has a full appreciation of the serious security, economic, human rights, democratic governance and other concerns in the region so that Canadian interests and values can be pursued as effectively as possible."

For more information, please contact the Clerk of the Committee at (613) 996-1540.

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