Various Regional Trade Associations exist in Central and Eastern Europe for economic and trade development. However, not all former Soviet republics belong to these RTAs. One such RTA is the Eurasian Economic Community. Most have however maintained links, strong or weak, with Russia in various interlinked associations. These relationships have both positive and negative consequences. In particular, some of the associations with Russia have presented several economic challenges to the former Soviet republics. Political and religious developments have also suffered some setbacks as a result of the associations with Russia (Mitra, 2008).
Continuity in links with Russia has led to economic, political and religion challenges such as the collaborative efforts to transit to a market economy. Nations such as Georgia withdrew from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CSI) after unfavorable economic experiences. Uzbekistan also suspended its membership to another RTA, the Eurasian Economic Community, after economic stagnation and regression fears. Ukraine has also failed to be a ratified member of CSI and has, as a result, joined the EU-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (Małowist, Batou & Szlajfer, 2010).
CSI has limited the political freedom of the member countries. Moldova and Armenia have been listed as politically partially free. Eurasian Economic Community members Tajikistan and Kazakhstan have been listed as not free regarding political freedom. Such conditions have been fostered by the joint political conditions, which are set and followed as RTA policy in Eurasian RTA. The same nations have also suffered economic stagnations as there is collective system application in how trade is carried out with the other European block. Individual progress has been hampered as regressions and depressions have a joint weakening effect on the limited economic powers of these nations.
In matters religion, there has been a lot of changes since the various nations broke away from the Soviet Union. For one, some countries have become irreligious such as Northern Latvia and Estonia. The religious ambiguity and confusion that reigns in such situations have an effect of undermining the national unity and cohesion of the country. In most Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, there is a strong Islamic identity. The identity of the Islamic States needless to say places certain restrictions on the survival of other religions such as Christianity inside that jurisdiction. The Baltic States are mostly Pro-Western oriented with western Christian culture. However, there is a state and religion separation in these latter nations. Orthodox Christianity has largely prevailed in the rest of the Eastern European nations.
Missionary organizations outside these countries need to be creative and innovatively novel in their approach. To share the gospel in these nations, there will need to ensure there is no conflict with the authorities or the locals (Lynch, 2010). To ensure that there are no selfish religious interests in the missionaries’ campaigns, there should be provision of humanitarian help. In fact, humanitarian and charity aid should be a primary purpose with gospel spread being introduced after the rendering of such services. The other approach is to have local contacts and converts, who would assist in easy access of the locals.
It is critical for the Gospel to spread in these countries due to various cultural and historical experiences. During the Soviet Union reign, the Gospel was suppressed and ignored. The generation that came afterward did not have strong religion roots or foundations. A largely secular society might not be the best to raise virtuous children. It is, therefore, critical to ensure that there is the moral balance brought about by having a religious nourishment and education. Some of the nations are also irreligious, which should be changed to ensure a well-balanced society with a sense of moral compass in life (Brusick, Alvarez & Cernat, 2005).
References
Brusick, P., Alvarez, A., & Cernat, L. (2005). Competition provisions in regional trade agreements. New York: UN.
Lynch, D. (2010). Trade and globalization. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield.
Małowist, M., Batou, J., & Szlajfer, H. (2010). Western Europe, Eastern Europe and world development, 13th-18th centuries. Leiden: Brill.
Mitra, P. (2008). Innovation, inclusion and integration. Washington, DC: World Bank.
