The French Presidency notes that delegations share the Commission's desire to re-orientate assistance away from the principal
TACIS beneficiaries to other countries.
The management accounting component of the
Tacis project aims to help the Russian government develop management accounting, improve management information and train skilled professionals.
Under
Tacis, the German nuclear giant Siemens has earned over 3.5 million ECU ($4.03 million) in the former Soviet bloc.
The operation is part of the
TACIS Programme 2002 and involves the supply of a pipeline network information system to the Central Asia gas companies (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan).
TACIS has been well funded, spending Euro 507 million in 1998 and Euro 427 million in 1999, for instance.
A spokesman for the UK Foreign Office said: ``Two individuals were recently detained in Georgia and are being questioned, but we are not aware of any direct connection with the abduction of Peter Shaw.'' Father-of-three Mr Shaw was working as an adviser with the Agro-Business Bank, part of Technical Assistance for the Community of Independent States (
Tacis), a European Commission-sponsored development programme.
The border crossing project was funded by the
Tacis Unit of the European Commission, but no financial details were provided.
The foundation's geographical scope was originally defined according to the external relations programmes (PHARE, CARDS,
TACIS, MEDA).
The EU's Court of First Instance rejected an appeal by the German EnBW group on March 16 demanding compensation from the European Commission for unpaid services in the context of
TACIS assistance to a Ukrainian nuclear power station (case T-283/02).
The
TACIS regional co-operation programme plans to spend some Euro 18 million over the period 2004-2006 specifically on oil and gas networks.