GUAM Summit in Batumi, Georgia
Officials from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine converged in the Georgian city of Batumi for a two-day GUAM summit on 1-2 July. Azerbaijani, Georgian and Ukrainian Presidents Ilham Aliyev, Mikheil Saakashvili and Viktor Yushchenko participated in the summit in person. The Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin, however, was not present. Moldova instead sent its interior minister to the summit. Apart from member countries, representatives of up to 25 countries attended the summit as well. Presidents of Poland Lech Kaczyński and of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus also arrived to participate in the summit.
Four post-Soviet republics: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine established the regional grouping titled GUAM after the founder countries’ names in 1997. In 1999, Uzbekistan joined the organization but left four years later. In 2006 the name was changed for Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM. The GUAM group declares fostering cooperation between the member states and promoting European integration to be its priorities.
This year's summit was held under the motto: "GUAM - Integrating Europe's East." The joint sessions were held on three issues: economic development, humanitarian aid, and security cooperation.
Energy security was one of the main issues under discussion. GUAM countries, particularly Ukraine and Georgia, whose relations with Moscow have soured in recent years, are eager to reduce their dependence on Russian oil and gas. Odessa-Brody-Gdansk-Plotsk oil pipeline project and transporting the Caspian basin oil to Ukraine and further to the rest of Europe were also discussed.
Much attention was paid to the unsolved conflicts on the territory of some member states. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev underlined that apart from economic cooperation, the increased political coordination between GUAM members had already brought tangible results in various international organizations. President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko stated that GUAM had to put forward new proposals in the negotiation process over the settlement of the frozen conflicts, as they were creating a safety concern and instability in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova.
As to the GUAM peacekeeping battalion, its creation had not been included in GUAM’s Batumi summit agenda, but GUAM Secretary General Valeri Chechelashvili stated that the organization was intensively working over this issue.
Joint declaration was signed in accordance with the results of the Batumi summit. It pledged to strengthen democratic values and supremacy of law. The declaration also expressed concern over the protracted conflicts, aggressive separatism, extremism and international terrorism. GUAM countries stated that they were ready to eliminate these threats in the atmosphere of close cooperation with other states and international organizations, and underlined the importance of the international community’s support for the settlement of the conflicts. The Batumi summit declaration called for the improvement of energy security system in terms of diversification of the European market of energy carriers.