European Union's Assistance for East European and Central Asian Countries under the TACIS Programme

The TACIS (Technical Assistance for the Central Independent States) programme, initiated in 1991, was aimed at assisting the economic transformation in 13 countries of East Europe and Central Asia: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgistan, Moldavia, Mongolia, Russia, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Initially, the TACIS was only a kind of support given within the framework of technical assistance. However, in the course of twelve years of its functioning, it became a complex system of cooperation of different East European and Central Asian countries with the European Communities, inclusive of political cooperation. In 1991.1999 the aid under the TACIS programme was granted to the East European and Central Asian countries as support to different areas (defined by the Council Regulation No. 99/2000) in the following proportions: nuclear safety and environment protection (20%), restructuring of the stateowned industry sector and development of the private sector (14%), reform of the government administration, reforms of the social security system and the education system (15%), agriculture and food supply (8%), energy (9%), transportation (7%), telecommunications (1%), consulting and small projects (6%), other such as society democratization programmes (6%), servicing and coordinating the utilization of the TACIS programme funds (14%). Apart fromthe above-mentionedmain assistance areas, also regional cooperation programmes, with special regard to transborder regional cooperation and twin-cities programmes, were financed under the TACIS programme. Also, under the impact of the Tshernobyl nuclear plant failure, programmes for nuclear safety improvement in this region of the world were financed within the framework of TACIS. Likewise, funds from the TACIS programme were granted for repairing the ravages of the Tshernobyl tragedy. As to the utilization of the assistance by individual countries of the region in 1991.2000, the largest share fell to Russia (53%), The second greatest assistance beneficiary was Ukraine (19.2%). The remaining countries received significantly smaller assistance: Armenia (2.5%), Azerbaijan (3.6%), Belarus (2.3%), Georgia (2.7%), Kazakhstan (4.7%), Kirgistan (2.1%), Moldavia (2.6%), Mongolia (1.2%), Tadjikistan (0.3%), Turkmenistan (1.7%), Uzbekistan (4.3%). The budget of the TACIS programme for 1991.1999 amounted to Euro 4,206 million, while for 2000-2006 it is estimated at Euro 3,138 million.