TACIS, an abbreviation of "Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States" programme, a foreign aid and technical assistance programme implemented by the& European Commission to help members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (as well as Mongolia), in their transition to democratic market-oriented economies. TACIS included a component dealing with nuclear safety, which was replaced after 2006 by the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation.
Launched by the EC in 1991, the TACIS Programme provided grant-financed technical assistance to 12 countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan). Mongolia was also covered by the TACIS programme from 1991 to 2003, after which it became part of the ALA Programme.
From the 2007-2013 EU Financial Perspective, the TACIS Programme was replaced for the countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy and Russia, by the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument. The Nuclear Safety component of the TACIS programme was covered, after 2006, by the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation.
The European Union remains the single largest donor of foreign assistance in the world.