Technical Cooperation and Stability in the Caucasus

One of the highest U.S. foreign policy priorities is to support the constructive transformation of Russia and the Newly Independent States. Promoting security, stability and nonproliferation is an important part of this policy. The countries of the Caucasus face a number of threats to stability including territorial disputes, ethnic hostility, smuggling, terrorism, crime, and deteriorating environmental conditions. Technical cooperation can provide non-political opportunities for regional cooperation—an important element of the foundation for a sustainable peace. Specifically, cooperative monitoring technologies can be tailored for particular needs of the parties involved. In order for this approach to work, the countries themselves will have to agree on the areas of cooperation, but the U.S. and other interested outside parties can promote appropriate technical collaborations. This paper will identify some of the regional security issues and discuss possible cooperative monitoring systems that could be applied to these different issues. Border monitoring, water management and quality monitoring, and ecological and epidemiological monitoring are some examples of the cooperative monitoring applications that could augment regional security and stability and enhance U.S. interests in the region.