The so-called Muenster process aimed at bringing investment to Central and Eastern Europe is over and should be replaced by cooperation in other international organizations, according to participants in a key Moscow conference last week.

The Muenster process, initiated in 1992 in the German city of the same name, was designed to foster market reform and bring $200 billion in investment to the economies in transition, a term generally used to describe former Communist Bloc nations.

The project brought together representatives of some 20 countries from Europe, North American and Japan at the annual International Conferences of Economics, Industry and Trade Ministers East-West, leading up to Tuesday event in Moscow.

Some Russian analysts called the process a failure, saying it attracted only about half of the expected investment and provided little benefit to Russia. However, official participants rejected that assertion and said that it had achieved its goals and that it was time to move on.

"The Muenster process did not fail, but the euphoric attitudes of the early 1990s have been amended," said German Gref, Russia's minister of Economic Development and Trade upon conclusion of the conference.

He cited recent economic successes of member countries as a proof of the success of the Munster process. "All members agree that getting rid of red tape, privatization, creation of a better tax climate and lowering customs duties were the priority areas for all economies in transition," he said.

Gref added that the "initial period of market reform is over and all the countries [members of the Munster process] now have market economies."

"We have worked effectively enough and decided that further cooperation should be continued in other organizations," he said.

But some experts said that Russia did not benefit from the process and, therefore, the end of it would not be of any consequence. Yevgeny Yasin, scientific director of the Higher School of Economics, said the project had had some potential, but it wasn't utilized.

"Some Central and Eastern European countries played a more important role in the process," he said. But, according to Yasin, Russian delegations that took part in the process failed to formulate positions that would be favorable to Russia. "We didn't gain anything," he said.

Other participants, however, backed Gref's view. "This is a very logical evolution of the Muenster process," said Donald Jonston, secretary general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which will assume some Muenster process functions.

"I don't consider today's declaration [stipulating the end of the series of meetings] as a failure of the process," said Jaroslav Basta of the Czech delegation. "Over the past eight years, the initial objective of the Muenster process, which was to facilitate a dialog between officials and investors, has been achieved."

He added that it was now time to shift focus to individual projects and negotiations between specific countries.